The Old Bordenian Association

This continues Barry Gilbert’s story of life in the Police Force.  For the first part, see http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/down-memory-lane/a-police-odyssey-january-1957-august-1992/.

My next period of service began with a move in April 1965 to the newly formed Traffic Division Garage in Bow Road in the East End of London, within the sound of Bow Bells.

The area has a very colourful history and a drive along Bow Road and Mile End Road through Stepney and Whitechapel towards the City of London was a history lesson in itself.

Stepney had its association with The Sidney Street siege in 1911, Sir Oswald Moseley’s ‘Black Shirts’ in the 1930’s and in my time the Kray Twins and their associates.

Whitechapel of course brought back memories of ‘Jack the Ripper’ in Victorian London and the back streets in the area could be very eerie at night and I am sure some of the ghosts still lingered there. It was a thriving commercial centre then, mainly Jewish, in the ‘rag trade’ and cabinet making, Kosher butchers and a number of breweries. I had a great fondness for the Jewish bakeries and at the end of a night shift would often call in and collect a bag of bagels. The ones we get in the supermarkets do not taste the same.

The years at Bow seemed to flash by very quickly I suppose because I enjoyed working in that part of London. The vehicles that we drove were being continually updated and we were, at that time, supplied with Rover 3500 and 2000’s, Jaguars and Land Rovers which were fully equipped traffic accident vehicles. The ‘Breathaliser’ and Vehicle Removal Regulations had been introduced and so we were kept busy but not very popular.

At the end of the sixties I did come into contact with members of the Kray gang , who by then had been convicted and imprisoned. I arrived at the garage one morning to begin my shift, when I and my colleague, who was my regular partner on the traffic car, were told to report to Scotland Yard at 10am. We were not given any explanation. We duly arrived at the appointed time with PC’s from other garages in the Met and some CID. We were then briefed that we were to go to Brixton Prison to pick up three members of the Kray Gang and transport them to Leicester Prison.  We delivered them under armed escort to their destination – not the sharp end of policing but an interesting change to our normal routine.

In 1970 I was presented with another chance to change my regular routine.

In 1969 there was a problem on the little island of Anguilla in the West Indian Leeward Islands. The Government at the time sent an invasion force to quell the troubles and then a small contingent of Met police officers to keep the peace. A request for volunteers to serve for a period of three months was sent to all stations and after discussing it with Anne, I decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss and sent off my application.

In September 1970 I found myself with a group of fellow volunteers at an army barracks near Regent’s Park being supplied with my tropical kit – police for the use of. A trip to the medical officer followed and we were given the standard inoculations.

On the 20^th of September we all assembled at Heathrow and boarded a BOAC – as it was then – flight bound for Antigua. We were lucky as this was a scheduled flight and we were the first group to use this route. The previous groups had been flown by RAF Hercules which was noisy and not very comfortable. We had a very good trip, stopping off in Bermuda where we were allowed to disembark, but only onto the runway which was on a spit of land jutting out into the sea – it was our first taste of the sunny Caribbean.

We arrived in Antigua and again didn’t leave the airport but were taken to a section where an RAF Andover was waiting to ferry us to Anguilla. However, there was a slight change of plan because apparently we were a larger group than normal and the plane could not take us all. Four of us were directed to a six seater Piper from Seagreen Airways and told that that was our transport to the island. We left before the Andover and as we had some time to spare the pilot took us on a trip around the group of islands before landing on Anguilla. It was a great flight and we had a chance to see the island from the air.

We watched the Andover, with our colleagues on board, land at the airport and this was no mean feat. The pilot had only 200 yards of tarmac to land on before he was on the dirt and so the approach had to be spot on. The RAF flew a Hercules Transport into Anguilla once or twice a week keeping the  ‘occupying’  force on the island supplied with food and equipment. It was quite a sight watching such a large aircraft land on such a small runway.

Anguilla is a small island with an area of 35 square miles just about the same size as the Isle of Sheppey. The land was not very fertile with a few small patches of sugar cane and the rest was scrub land – not a bit like Kent. There were beautiful sandy beaches all round the island.

Our transport to the island and ..

.. the Andover touching down with our colleagues on board.

Our police headquarters was housed in what was the administrative centre which boasted a few offices, a tiny police station with one cell and a library.  The police contingent was based in three houses which served as accommodation and police station at strategic points on the island. I was attached to the central area with other traffic patrol officers and our job was to keep the police vehicles on the road. I would like to say roadworthy but they were very old, tarmac road were non-existent and spares were at a premium.  Volcanic rock plays havoc with tyres and suspensions.

The house we were allocated had been a hotel but the washing facilities consisted of water, hand- pumped from a tank in the garden which collected rain water from the roof.  A generator was supplied by the Army so that we did have lighting. Our main meals were supplied by the Army where we ate in the Sergeants mess.

Outside our ‘hotel’

The road to the Commissioner’s Residence

I was attached to the Transport Section and acted as a quartermaster supplying the outlying stations with stores supplied by the Army. I also collected large slabs of ice from an ice making plant on the island – an essential for their cool cabinets. I also made purchases which were not available from the Army at the local stores and came into contact with the islander shopkeepers who were happy friendly people who called me ‘Barree’.

The Island was very peaceful during our tour of duty and in the afternoons we were usually free to go off to our favourite beaches and explore the coral reefs that ringed the island. Most of us had taken snorkels, mask and flippers with us on the advice of returning officers. The waters were crystal clear and we spent hours in water searching for conche shells and became quite adept at diving to some depth to retrieve them. They did have occupants, but one of the islanders showed us how to clean them. I brought home some beautiful shells which I still have as a reminder of those days.

Above the beautiful Crocus Bay and ..

.. a shell cleaning operation.

The group that I was with were quite a sporting crowd and we could rustle up a good cricket team and football team. We had a number of games against the islanders and these were a bit competitive. The playing area was a trifle uneven as grass was in short supply. The wicket was a rolled patch of clay and the local lads were typical West Indians bowling as fast as they could and they hit everything in the air, a good tactic considering the state of the outfield. There was another hazard. It always paid to look at the ball when picking it up in the field as I found when I saw an angry tarantula pop out of its hole.

We had a great time on that beautiful island and when I look back I think how lucky we were. Who would have thought that when joining the Met that we would get the chance to spend three months in the West Indies.

All too soon it was time for us to say goodbye to Anguilla and my friends and I in the MT section returned home to continue our service in London.

Barry Gilbert (BGS 1949-1956)

To be continued.