Busy Times for the Constabulary Archives
What a strange summer it has been so far with extremes of weather and fluctuating demand for our services. It is often quiet when it is warm and sunny and then when the weather breaks we get busy again.
In April we celebrated Iftar (the fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan) at Police Headquarter with some of the cadets modelling old uniform.
And Dymock WI were given a talk on women police in Gloucestershire.
We also attended the Gloucestershire branch of National Association of Retired Police Officers AGM
Then there was the Coronation in May and some of Gloucestershire Constabulary’s officers attended.
The King took time out of his busy schedule to congratulate Andy Gardiner on his 62 years service with the constabulary. Andy started as a cadet in 1961 and retired in May. I think he deserves a rest!
In July we went to an event held at Kemble and spent the day in a Jumbo Jet.
And as usual we answered lots of queries, spent a day in school talking about the history of early policing as well as transcribing documents and preparing web pages.
My favourite query this time was from a lady in her 60s whose grandfather died in 1934 and she had never seen him nor had her father who was only a few months old when his father died. She found out that her grandfather had been arrested in Gloucestershire just before he died and wondered if we were able to find a mug shot of him. We didn’t have anything but were able to find a picture in the prison records for her.
We are already taking bookings for talks in 2024. Isn’t it worrying how quickly it will come around?
The Police Open Day will be back after a break for the pandemic and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. It will be a ticket only event this year keep a look out for further updates.
If you have any police related photographs we are always happy to receive Jpegs via gloucestershirepolicearchives@gmail.com and queries can also be sent to the same email address. We are usually open at the Heritage Hub on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until 2.30 but it is worth checking before you make a visit as we do go out and about quite often.
