Lipson was evidently deeply unhappy with these plans. Thus he set up on his own, turning the former Corinth House into Corinth college and succeeded with half of the 50 boys at the house. Unfortunately for Lipson this was not to prove a success in the long-term and the school closed in 1935 after suffering a declining school roll.
However Lipson used his retirement from teaching to launch a new career - he immediately entered politics with considerable success. He became Mayor of Cheltenham (1935-7) as well as an independent M.P. (1937-50). He was honoured after his parliamentary career with the accolade of Honorary Freeman of Cheltenham. He died in 1963.
The synagogue, like other closed synagogues, was revived during the Second World War, by the some seven or eight Jewish families who had moved onto Cheltenham in the 1930s; Orthodox Jewish evacuees from London as well as American service men based in the area. There was even temporarily a kosher butcher in the town. In the times when there was no kosher butcher, the kosher meat used to be sent down by bus from Birmingham and had to be picked up from the local bus station. This arrangement evidently had its drawbacks in hot weather but was no doubt better than those communities which had to have their meat sent down by post!
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