FOR veteran Syd Tavender, these sketches are not only a memento of a famous friend, but also a reminder of the brutalities he lived through as a prisoner of war.

The drawings were created by legendary cartoonist Ronald Searle when both he and Mr Tavender, now 94, were held captive in the Second World War. Mr Searle died in December.

The pair met when working in the gardens of Singapore, Mr Tavender said, and were in terrible physical shape after enduring horrific conditions when forced to work on the Burma to Thailand railway.

Mr Tavender, who lives in Up Hatherley, said: "When we were working the gardens, having come down from Burma, we were wrecks. We were just skin and bone.

"He was still drawing then. I knew him reasonably well. I used to talk to him when we were doing the gardening."

He said the cartoonist, whose St Trinian's drawings inspired a series of films, drew images depicting the brutal scenes he witnessed when captured.

Mr Tavender has three signed sketches, which are copies of the originals, kept in a secure location.

One shows an awful scene of a prisoner being tormented.

"They used to tie you to a tree and put a bucket of water two or three feet from you but you couldn't get to it and were really thirsty," he said.

"When you have been out in the sun for about 12 hours, you are thirsty."

The sketches, which are on paper and drawn in pencil, mean more to Mr Tavender than they could ever be sold for.

He said: "I'm very proud to have them. I have got them stored in a safe place.

"I don't know what they might be worth. I would never sell them. They mean a lot sentimentally."

The pair met several times after the war. The last time was in 2005 when they journeyed back to where they had been held captive with others.

Mr Searle died at on December 30, aged 91. He was born in Cambridge and started drawing at the age of five, selling his first sketch at 15.

He learned his trade in the city before the Second World War intervened and he joined up. Mr Searle was serving in the Royal Engineers when he sold his first St Trinian's cartoon in 1941.

That same year he was captured during the fall of Singapore and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Japanese, surviving malaria and beatings by the guards.

His graphic drawings of the horrors of camp life were later published, but it was the exploits of the girls of St Trinian's which made him a household name.