CADETS 1961 by tegwyn ‘teg’ roberts, retired

The above photograph is of the May 1961 intake of the Liverpool City Police Cadets. I couldn’t believe that I had actually written everyone’s name on the back !!

I’ve endorsed each name with a letter, showing which force the members came from.

They are: L (Liverpool City Police), W (Wallasey Police), G (Gloucestershire Police) and IoM (Isle of Man Police)

TOP ROW: From left to right: WILLIAMS (G) ENGLAND (G) SHAW (L) AUSTIN (L) WEBSTER (W) HOSKISSON (L)

2nd. ROW DOWN: HEMINGWAY (L) CASTLE (G) JONES (G) FLUCK (G) SMITH (G) GALBRAITH (L) WOODS (L)

3rd. ROW DOWN; MOXON (L) WILLIAMS (G) JONES (L) ROBERTS (L) SCOTT (L) WHITE (W) GROY (L) MacDONALD (L)

FEONT ROW: KILBY (G) BASNETT (W) Sgt. EDWARDS Supt. CLARKE Insp. PUGH Con. McKAY BOWDEN (L) GORDON (IoM)

I joined the Liverpool City Police Cadets in May 1961, as Cadet 106 !!! Like most of the recruits, we had come straight from home so had to adjust to living with strangers and the rigours of a disciplined environment. I well remember the endless hours of drill routines on the Parade Ground and “punsihment” runs around the oval under the watchful eye of the one and only Sgt. John EDWARDS – he taught me so much about discipline and deportment which has carried me through all my life. Insp. PUGH taught us the basics of criminal law, especially the definitions and First Aid (“don’t forget its a grrrranny knot” !!!) Then we had an Insp. NICHOLSON who isn’t mentioned much by many former Cadets. He was a quietly spoken intense person who taught us shorthand & typing, basic report writing and English. And finally Con. Doug McKAY who taught Swimming for our Bronze Medallions, PT and lifeskills – and entertained us with stories of his exploits while in the RAF !!! In overall charge was Supt. Tom McHUGH – whom you didn’t see much of !!!

Apart from my intake, there were many other Liverpool City PoliceCadets at the Training School too who were posted to various Departments or Police Stations around Liverpool. Once the initial training was completed, permission was given to many of the Cadets to live at home where practicable.

I recall the accommodation block as all cadets on initial training had to live in, from 8am Mondays to 12 noon Saturdays when the building was vacated. Meals were at definite set times. The lady-in-charge of Housekeeping (Accommodations and kitchen) was a Mrs. OLIVER who outwardly appeared and behaved very sternly but who I came to know as a very kind and caring lady, always on the look-out for her “boys” – ones that found it difficult to adjust tolife from home or were deemed as not fitting in by other cadets.

At weekends I travelled by bus (hardly any of the Cadets had cars then) home to Llandudno with 4 other Cadets from the same area or nearby -Tony JONES and Peter JONES (not related) from Abergele and myself, Ian McNEIL and Geoff GRIFFITHS from Llandudno. When Mrs. OLIVER found out that we had to return to Liverpool on Sunday evening in order to start at 8am on Mondays, she kindly and unofficially let us in to the accommodation block on Sunday evening to save us booking into a B&B in Mt. Pleasant for the night !!!!!

Then there were the many day hikes (orienteering as it was called !!) that Sgt. EDWARDS took us ….. a couple all day around Skelmersdale (before all the housing went up), another all day at the back of Rainhill and a couple around Hale Village and Speke Airport and one around Frodsham and the Manchester Ship canal – all very exhausting as I recall !!!

On completion of initial training, I was posted to the Chief Constable’s Office in Hardman Street, MERCRO (RecordsOffice) also in Hardman Street, Main Bridewell in Cheapside and Prosecutions Office in Hatton Garden (all the Prosecutors were hardened Detective Inspectors with Chief Insp. BONNER in charge and retired Insp. GRUNDY as the civilian clerk. The dapper Mr. NICHOLSON was the Liverpool City civilian Solicitor who was consulted from time to time. There was no Crown Prosecution Service then !!!!

All the Cadets also had to partake in Typing & Shorthand classes at the Technical College in Anfield and later we had to attend the Childwall Valley Technical College for classes in English. Social Studies and Essay writing.

I remember many of the Cadets I mixed with during my “stay” at Mather Avenue – Jock GALBRAITH (from Campbelltown in Scotland); Tony SHAW (who nearly always upset Sgt. EDWARDS one way or another) but resigned from the regular force a few years later and became a succesful author; Geoff GRIFFITHS who was posted to “D” Division and was severley beaten-up some 9 months later and had to be invalided out and now lives at Conwy in North Wales; Ian McNEILL who I saw a lot of when I returned to UK for while in 1996 but sadly passed away last year; John HEMINWAY and Ken HOSKISSON who I saw when they were close to retirement in 1996; John EVANS who later became Chief Constable of Devon & Cornwall; Bill BOWDEN but I have no idea what became of him; Tony TYLER who stuttered badly and always at the wrong time; Nev BROOMFIELD whose father was a senior officer in the Cheshire Police and Mike BRAMWELL who I also saw later when I came to the UK. These are a few I remember well.

Then came July 1962 when I was sworn in as a Constable in the Liverpool Cty Police and packed off to Bruche.

I hope that members of this absolutely great site find some interest in this article. I now live at Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia).

Teg Roberts

September 2012