This section of our website is intended for you to keep in touch with all of your fellow colleagues who have served in the Bermuda Police. We started this column by putting all entries on one post but soon realized that it would stretch for far too long so we are doing it by each year- and this one is for 2024.

We welcome news, however brief, and would also encourage you to send us recent photos. Sadly we sometimes have to report "bad" news such as illnesses - or worse - but we are always delighted to receive positive news! We can be contacted through our email address at info@expobermuda.com or through the comments column at the bottom of each article, including this one.

We are starting this year's "Keeping in Touch" column with an entry about  those 30 men and women, many of whom will hopefully be celebrating their 50th Anniversary Year since joining the Bermuda Police back in 1974. Scroll down to our first entry of the year on 1st January regarding the  50th Anniversary.

 

Members of the  Burke Family visit Bermuda  -  I’d recently been meaning to make contact with our old friend and colleague, retired Inspector Mike Burke and his wife Carolyn “Cam” who left Bermuda in 1982 after Mike retired and they settled in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, where Mike was born and raised.

 Roger with Mark and Joanne on their moped

So, it was a very pleasant surprise to receive a call completely out of the blue from Mike’s son, Mark,  who had arrived here on vacation with his lovely wife Joanne.  Mark was born in Bermuda in 1968 and his sister, Sally was born 2 years later.  The Burke family lived on Alexandra Road, Prospect, at a time when lots of the young married policemen and their wives were living at Prospect and raising children. 

Sgt Mike Burke with Cam and their children
Mark and Sally when Mike received his 
18 years Long Service medal in 1976
 

Mark bumped into Michael Sheehy, John Joe Sheehey’s son, at Divots Restaurant while doing something he could only have dreamed of doing when living here!  Mark was 15 when his family moved to Jersey so he never had the opportunity to own and ride a Moby!  He more than made up for it on this trip when he rented a moped and toured from one end of the Island to the other with Joanne as his pillion passenger. Bermuda traffic is infinitely more congested these days than it was in the 1960’s and 1970’s,  but Mark and Joanne thoroughly enjoyed doing their sightseeing on two wheels although I should mention that Mark is an experienced motor cyclist on bikes far more powerful than those seen in Bermuda, such as his  Kawasaki GPS 600 Ninga! 

Acting Supt Arthur Glasford

Mark and Joanne also had a chance meeting with Acting Supt Arthur Glasford when they visited the Police Rec Club. Arthur introduced himself and then went on to give them a tour of the officer's club and museum. He then took them to the Police Memorial in the Prospect Cemetery, all in his own time. This was very emotional for Mark, seeing his old homes, Camp Lodge and 16 Alexandra Rd. and then visiting John Joe Sheehy's final resting place and seeing the names of others who he knew commemorated there. Mark says a better example of Bermuda hospitality would be hard to find and he is very grateful to Arthur for his time.

Mark and Joanne ready to hit the road

Mark had followed his father into the police profession and served in the Jersey Police for some 28 years before retiring as a Sergeant 6 years ago and becoming a funeral director.  His sister Sally works in the Governor's Office as their Admin and Engagements Officer.

Mark and Joanne visited my wife and I at our home in Flatts Village and it was great to catch up on how the Burke family is doing in Jersey.  Mike has really slowed down these days, but Cam keeps busy, and both are actively involved with their lovely grandchildren. 

'The Burke Jersey Clan'
Back (l-r)  Carolyn, Sally, Joanne, George and Leah
(Mark and Joanne’s 2 children), Mark and Mike,
Front -  Lucy, Aimee and Megan (Sally’s 3 girls)
 

Mark has been back to the Island several times over the years, and we understand that his sister Sally will probably be the next family member to pay us a visit.

You can read more about Mike and Cam in an excellent  article in the “Then and Now” column of our website. CLICK HERE to view it. 

 

20th March

Spotted at Belmont
(l-r)  "Moby" Pett, Keith Cassidy, Billy Butterworth and Paul Field

Hanging Out at Divots -  This group of "oldies" was spotted last week having lunch together at Divots restaurant located at Belmont Hills Golf Club.  Bill Butterworth, Keith Cassidy and Moby Pett are all regular golfers and play together every week. They might also be found on Thursday afternoons getting together in the bar at the Police Club with some of our other old colleagues. The odd man out in the photo is Paul Field who has never been seen on a golf course although he used to be handy with bat and ball on the cricket field in the 1960's.  

Keith is a member of the Senior Golfer's who plays at Belmont on Tuesdays and I seem to recall that he and a partner won a recent tournamen with the Seniors.  Keith probably knows the course better than anyone as a Past President of Belmont who still patrols the course on a regular basis and still works tirelessly to make sure it's kept in good shape.  And on the same subject, all four of these old colleagues are in generally good shape and are all staying active.  Great to see them out and about.

4th March

A pensive John McQuaid

John McQuaid returning “Home”!  We hear that our good friend and former colleague, John McQuaid, is returning to his second “home” here in Bermuda for a 2 week holiday, arriving on Sunday 10th March, and he’ll be staying with his friend Edward Harris.  

John has been yearning for a visit to Bermuda for some time and is hoping to meet up with as many of his old friends as possible, especially his Somerset crew and also members of the Police Drama Group. Sadly, he isn’t able to bring his wife, Lynn, due to the fact that she’s very ill and not able to travel.  In fact their children have urged John to take a well-earned break and visit the Island he fell in love with over half a century ago.

Young P.C. John McQuaid
 

John served here in the Bermuda Police from  September 1963 – September 1969,  serving first in St. George’s and then in Somerset where he met his lovely wife Lynn in Somerset.  

CLICK HERE to read the story of John McQuaid taken from his article ‘THE SIXTIES’ in which he wrote "My stay in Bermuda left an indelible mark, a love of the island and its way of life, which I have retained ever since."

 

Young P..C. Dennis Gordon

 
Dannis Gordon -  I happened to meet up with our old friend and colleague retired Sgt. Dennis Gordon a few days ago in our doctors waiting room and Dennis told me he had a nasty road accident on Keith Hall Road last November when someone ran into him and caused several injuries for which he’s still receiving treatment.  I understand that the driver of the offending vehicle had no licence so he also had no insurance which means  Dennis is having problems claiming off the vehicle owners insurance.
 
Dennis came to Bermuda from St. Vincent to join the BPS in March 1972 and celebrated 50 years in Bermuda in 2002.  After his initial posting to Central Division (Hamilton), Dennis served in Murder Room, Central CID, Operations (Traffic), and spent most of his service in CID and in Narcotics. He retired in 2005 after over 30 years service in the BPS.
 
Dennis Gordon and Roger Kendall at one of our ExPo functions
 
Dennis regularly attends our ExPo functions and still keeps himself fit, apart from his  most unfortunate accident.  We wish him a speedy and complete recovery.
 

20th January

DO WE HAVE YOUR PHOTO? -  Last week was ran an article on our Facebook page asking the question -  DO WE HAVE YOUR PHOTO? -  After  publishing this group photo  of members of Traffic Department taken in 1979, on the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Bermuda Police, we had a request from Becky Durie for a photo of her father, John Wild. We also had a comment from Theresa Pedro (Pratt) who was delighted to see that her father Sgt Keith Pratt was one of the men and women in the group photo.  We promptly checked our records and were quickly able to post portrait photos of both John Wild and Keith Pratt under the Facebook article.
 
Operations Division in front of City Hall - 1989
CLICK HERE to view this photo enlarged with complete with caption
 
Some of our ExPo members may not be aware  that we have access to literally hundreds of head and shoulders photos of most of the police officers who served here in the Bermuda Police from the late 1950's to the early 1990's in the old police register at Prospect. These were usually taken when the officer first joined the Police so they are usually of our "young" men and women although some were taken when officers had been promoted. They were taken for their warrrant card ID's and are only passport size, but some are rather nice portraits. Our Police photographers were the best!
We invited our ExPo members to contact us at info@expobermuda.com if they would be interested in obtaining a copy of their photo and we'd be happy to search our files to see if we can find one for you. But there is a price to pay!!!!
The "PRICE" is that you write a few lines and let us know where you are and what you're doing these days so we can mention you here in our "Keeping in Touch" column. 
 
FIRST REPLY FROM NEAL RICHARDSON -   Well, we've now received our first request from, Neal Richardson, who served here from 1984-1993.  CLICK HERE for an excellent article Neal had already written to us for our "Then and Now" column which we published without his portrait because we couldn't find it when we first published the article. After an extensive search we found Neal's old warrant card photo which we immedately sent to him, and here is Neal's reply honouring his part of the bargain! 
 Young P.C. Neal Richardson
I got in touch following your piece in ExpoBermuda regarding requests to obtain our initial joining (warrant card) photo from the Police Admin records.  I asked for mine and this was met with an initial response of no success.  I gather that our Sept 1984 Localisation Couse (there were 20 of us) weren't stored well.  I was delighted last night to find out that you went on a subsequent deep-dive and sure enough, found mine.  Many thanks for that.  My wife and I had a good laugh at it.
Neal and Ingrid
enjoying the sunshine in Guatemala
"I last left off with an account I put together that's in the Then and Now section (CLICK HERE to view it Since then, I continued with my private sector employment in the NYC area, working for several major financial institutions in the field of AML.  There was one particular Bermuda Police interaction with this, and that was when my boss at one of these financial institutions, was on a conference somewhere in the States, and she began a conversation with the gentlemen in the next seat on a private bus that was ferrying the attendees around.  The gentleman said he was from Bermuda and of course, my boss said one of her team was once based in Bermuda.  The gentleman was Dave Cart, another of my former bosses.  What are the chances of that happening?
Bermuda gave me, and many of my colleagues, a love and the ability to travel.  One of these travels included a visit to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in 1991.  I was blown away at the beauty of the place and despite seeing a lot of the rest of the world, this particular spot parked itself in my head.
I made the decision to go for retirement at 61.  It's not easy walking out of a good job voluntarily, but I did.  In my final working years, we built a beautiful house on the shores of the Lake, and it was probably having this house down here that I could only enjoy for short work vacations that fueled my desire to retire.  Retirement was three years ago and I spend almost all of my time now here in Guatemala.  I have a car and a motorcycle here that's great for explorations.  However, there are no roads where our house is and it's only accessible by boat.  We still maintain a place in the NYC area, but I only tend to go when family events occur. I haven't been back to the UK since 2008 when my brother passed away unexpectedly.  With no close family to visit there anymore, I just haven't felt any draw to return.  
I am in regular video call contact with the likes of Eddie Davies (living in Georgia, USA), John Jones (living in Hong Kong), Ian Matthews (living in Leeds), Gary Wilson (living in Bangkok).
Happily married to New Yorker, Ingrid, with our three (now) adult kids. " 
 
Editors note -  By coincidence the next photo below includes Dave Cart.
 

8th January

"Celebration of Life" for Steve Dunleavy  -   The family of the Late retired Sgt. Steve Dunleavy held a “Celebration of Life” reception for Steve at the RHADC in Paget on Sunday afternoon 7th January 2024.  CLICK HERE to review our Hall of Fame article about Steve which was written with the assistance of his family who also kindly supplied some of the photos.

Here in Bermuda, and elsewhere, it‘s been traditional to hold a funeral service, usually at a church or chapel, or occasionally at the Police cemetery at Prospect, but the times they are a’changing.   I have to say from the outset that not only was Steve’s “Celebration of Life” reception packed with his family, friends and former colleagues in attendance, but it also felt like an actual “celebration” of his life. There were touching moments when his children, Christian, Sean and  Katherine shared some of their highly personal reminiscences of good times and amusing times with their dad,  as did grandson Jay and nephew John.  It should also be mentioned that Steve's snooker partner for many years, fellow policeman, Andy Wright, flew in specially for the reception and also gave a personal tribute to his good friend. 

Please note that in accordance with his family’s wishes, wearing bright colours were the order of the day – except for the colour red!  But why?  Typical of curmudgeonly Steve, it was explained that he wouldn’t have wanted anyone turning up in anything even remotely resembling Manchester United’s colours!   

(l-r) Betty and John Dale. Bill Butterworth
Andy Wright and Dave Cart
 
Sue Dunleavy amd Gertie Barker
 
Hiram Edwards, Carlton Adams and Louis Griffith

Ty Smith, Wayne Perinchief and Cal Smith

 If you check out the photo of items on display in memory of Steve, you will see that not only was he proud of his time in the Bermuda Police, he was also a Bolton Wanderers fan all the way.  Judging by the unanimous comments of our ExPo members present – Steve had a great send off! 

Tributes to Steve
Bolton Wanderers Forever. The Heineken was empty!
 
Steve sings along with the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger!
You know you've hit the heights in Bermuda when you're the subject of a
Peter Woolcock cartoon! Steve was a lifelong Rolling Stones fan and an
Atlanta Braves supporter along with his family, and Gizmo was his much loved cat.  
This cartoon was a gift to the family from Peter Woolcock for Steve's 50th birthday

 

1st January

HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY -  For anyone who joined the Bermuda Police during the year 1974 and is still chugging along, we salute you and congratulate you on this the 50th anniversary year since you first joined the Bermuda Police.   

It appears from our Police records, that 1974 was a rather lean year for new recruits.  In all, we have found 30 names in the old police registers at Prospect, and looking through our Training School Course photos we could only find one Basic Training Course held during the year, and that was Course No. 18 held from May – July 1974. 

Basic Training Course #18

Top Row (l-r)  Kendrick Shillingford, Cumlal Rampersad, John Lynch-Wade, 
Charles Mooney, Herwood Griffiths, Ian Sanders, Robin Stuart
Middle Row - John Kenyon, John Kandziorka, Reginald Ramjohn, Catharine Dorrington, 
Coralie Trott, Sharonmae "Tracy" Armstrong, Eric Ingemann, Wilton "Terry" Lee, Matthew Lindo
Seated -  Peter Borland, Sgt Pat McBride, Supt. Syke Smith, DCOP Alf Morris, 
Insp. Dave Parsons, Sgt Barrie Meade, P.C. John McConnie (Instructor), Franklyn Foggo/Bagley
 

Looking at the above photo we're aware that a few of these recruits either failed to make it through training school or left shortly after the course, while others stayed on, some for several years and some who made their careers as police officers.  Those who stayed in the Police include Eddie Edwards, Kendrick Shillingford, John Lynch-Wade, Charlie Mooney, Cathy Dorrington, Charlie Dorrington, Coralie Trott, Tracy Armstrong, Peter Borland, and Frankie Foggo.  The only Training School instructor still with us is retired Inspector John McConnie.  Those we have lost include John Kandjiorka, Eric Ingemann, Terry Lee, and Matthew Lindo. 

CLICK HERE for our article about the 30 men and women recruited during 1974 and listing all of their names.