The Old Bordenian Association

Barry Gilbert, a member of the OBA Committee, attended the school from 1949 to 1956.  This is the beginning of his story of life in the Police Force.

In January 1957 I journeyed to London and enrolled at the age of 18 on a Senior Cadet course at the Metropolitan Police Training Centre at Hendon.

The 13 week course was the same as that taken by police constable entries but on passing out we were transferred as trainees until our 19^th birthday. My first posting was to Notting Hill – a bit of a culture shock for a lad from Kent. Two months later the Met had an accommodation crisis and our cadet section at Ravenscourt Section House was dispersed to various parts of the MPD. I was transferred to Eltham but at least it was on the Kent side of the Metropolis and closer to home. My billet was above the police station at Woolwich a bit noisy at nights and weekends when the locals had had a few drinks.

Cadets were called ‘inky boys’ because we were mainly employed as clerks to the Station Officer. However we did patrol with the beat PC’s and with the Area car. In those days there were two per division covering about four or five station areas. We also spent a week on the Traffic Patrol cars – all exciting stuff. We were also gaining experience of all types of street duty which stood us in good stead when we were eventually let loose on our own.

 During my stay at Eltham, Princess Margaret performed the opening ceremony of The Cutty Sark which was restored and displayed at Greenwich. I was one of the cadets in the Guard of Honour on that day and I was reminded of that when the fire gutted the ship recently.

 One of the Inspectors at the station discovered that I played tennis and cricket and asked (ordered) me to make up a four at the sports club at Hayes once a week, I was very happy to oblige.

This began my association with sport in the Met and especially at the sports club at Hayes. It is situated to the south of Bromley on the edge of Hayes Common not far from Biggin Hill. The clubhouse is a beautiful country house which was owned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and donated to the Met. It has changed somewhat, having been extended over the years but in those days it seemed idyllic. The cricket pitches were bordered on three sides by rhododendrons – a rare sight in early summer.

My nineteenth birthday arrived in August of that year and I was whisked off to Scotland Yard to be sworn in as a Constable.

My first posting as a PC was to Kennington Road Police Station, a sub-division of M Division.  The station area stretched along the Thames between Vauxhall Bridge and Waterloo Bridge and extended southwards to The Elephant and Castle.  The west of the area took in The Oval Cricket Ground and the eastern boundary was Waterloo Station. In between were the South Bank site of the Festival of Britain, The Festival Hall, County Hall, St.Thomas’s Hospital and Lambeth Palace. I always enjoyed being posted to 7 Beat because it took in the riverside walk fronted by St. Thomas’s and the view across the river to the Houses of Parliament takes a lot of beating.

Police colleagues, John and Barry, on duty at Westminster Bridge in 1959.   The picture was taken by an itinerant street photographer.

John was a colleague of mine working on the same relief.  We were posted to Kennington at the same time, both living at Gilmour House and have remained friends. He retired to a 15C farmhouse in Devon and raises Ruby Red Devon cattle and Devon Horned sheep, two rare breeds. We keep in touch and meet regularly.

Take note of the uniform.  We were sent out to patrol our beat armed with a whistle, a truncheon (wooden) and a pocket book and pencil. A far cry from today with their body armour, metal retractable truncheon, radio, mace gas, handcuffs and some firearms. Our firearms were locked in the Station Officer’s safe and could only be issued to authorised officers on a directive from above. As a foot duty PC I never saw them leave the safe other than to be checked periodically.

There was a tale that came from Cannon Row Police Station on the other side of Westminster Bridge, where they had armed protection posts, Downing Street etc.  On this occasion the firearm was being issued or handed over to the relieving PC when it was discharged resulting in a hole in the charge room ceiling and a lot of paper work.

The Elephant and Castle area was home to a few choice villains but any violence was usually fisticuffs and drunken brawls. The first few hours on night duty were spent clearing the streets after the pubs turned out and arrests were made and the cells filled. The early hours of the morning were quiet and walking round your beat the big city has a certain charm when all the hustle and bustle has died down.

Our duties times consisted of six weeks of alternate shifts 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm and then three weeks continuous night duty.  There was certain logic to the long night duty stint, allowing you to accustom yourself to sleeping during the day. The downside was the fact that the courts sat at 10am which meant coming off duty at 6am and then being woken up to attend court.

Single officers lived in a Section House. Gilmour House was situated in Renfrew Road and Lambeth Court was on the opposite side of the road. We became very adept at timing it to the last minute from when we had a wake call to reporting to the Court Inspector. Magistrates were very quick in dispensing  justice at the time and if you were lucky, when your prisoner’s name was called and he was a ‘drunk and incapable’, there was no time to get into the witness box before the Magistrate said, “Any trouble officer?”  and the reply was – “No trouble Your Worship!” from the well of the court. He or she was fined 5 shillings and released. The court card was signed by the Inspector and you were across the road and back in bed before 10-30. We were credited with four hours overtime which could be used to take a day off when required. I was able to play many games of hockey for The Old Boys under that system!!

Sport at station level was encouraged and Kennington was no exception. I played in goal for the station and M division. Both were good sides and we won a few of the trophies on offer. In the summer I played cricket for station and division and again we performed well in all the competitions. Playing two or sometimes three games a week as well as walking the beat kept us very fit and so the Met gained as well.

I was stationed at Kennington for six years and enjoyed the comradeship of the work as part of team on the relief. However it was time to move on and I decided to apply for duty on the Central Traffic Squad, which begins another chapter in The Odyssey to be continued later.

Barry Gilbert