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 2025.
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 the dreadful weather being experienced in the UK, the U.S. and no doubt elsewhere around the globe. We would love to hear from you and perhaps you can start the year by letting us know if you're being impacted by this terrible cold weather - or if you've managed to find somewhere to avoid it. Unfortunately, our Comments section below each article is still giving us problems. but you can either write to us at the email address above (highlighted in blue), or through our ExPo Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BDAExPolice/
12th January
Colin MacKenzie
Colin MacKenzie shivers in Peterborough - We just heard from our old friend Colin MacKenzie who now resides with his familty in Peterborough, Ontario, and he's written to give us the latest news about their cold Canadian weather, and to send Best Wishes to our readers and especially his former colleagues from 1970-1979.
Hi All,
Always glad to read news about former officers and colleagues from the 70 - 79 time frame, and even about officers, news and events outside of those years. I received interesting articles recently about the Police Rugby team from past years and the names brought back nice memories. Thanks to Billy Butterworth and John Price for the memories.
I live an hour east of Toronto and all of last week January 6th to 10th we had really cold temperatures, especially at night, but the days were filled with sunshine and blue skies but just soooo cold during the daylight hours. So, touching metal or even the steering wheel on your vehicle was not nice. However, that cold weather has left us and it has been much milder in the last couple of days. Lots and lots of snow in the northern part of the Province of Ontario a couple of weeks ago, with many roads closed and photos of residents shovelling snow that had accumulated above the height of parked vehicles. Today the sun is shining and we have a little snow on the ground but the roads are clear and dry until….. well, the next dumping! Supposed get about an inch or so overnight tonight and that is really nothing to complain about. Not like Brighton, Sussex, where the only cold I remember was the wind coming of the sea down at the sea-front!
I heard this the other day from a friend who went to New Zealand for Christmas, visiting family so I thought I would share. He asked if I knew the difference between the English International Rugby team and a tea-bag. After I said no, get to the point (😂), he said the tea-bag stays in the “Cup” longer! Ouch!!
That's the scoop from here. Best wishes to everyone, where-ever they may living now, and to my former colleagues from 1970 - 1979. Where the heck does the time go!?
Colin.
CLICK HERE to view Colin's article in our "Then and Now" column.
Just to keep our collective memories ticking over, here's a group photo of Colin with his fellow colleagues from a particular department that shall be nameless! If you feel like testing your memory, see how many you can remember and drop us a line at infor@expobermuda.com or check out our ExPo Facebook page at
Hi, there.
Aways glad to read news about former officers and colleagues from the 70 - 79 time frame, and even about officers, news and events outside of those years. I received interesting articles recently about the Police Rugby team from past years and the names brought back nice memories. Thanks to Billy Butterworth and John Price for the memories.
I live an hour east of Toronto and all of last week January 6th to 10th we had really cold temperatures, especially at night, but the days were filled with sunshine and blue skies but just soooo cold during the daylight hours. So, touching metal or even the steering wheel on your vehicle was not nice. However, that cold weather has left us and it has been much milder in the last couple of days. Lots and lots of snow in the northern part of the Province of Ontario a couple of weeks ago, with many roads closed and photos of residents shovelling snow that had accumulated above the height of parked vehicles. Today the sun is shining and we have a little snow on the ground but the roads are clear and dry until….. well, the next dumping! Supposed get about an inch or so overnight tonight and that is really nothing to complain about. Not like Brighton, Sussex, where the only cold I remember was the wind coming of the sea down at the sea-front!
I heard this the other day from a friend who went to New Zealand for Christmas, visiting family so I thought I would share. He asked if I knew the difference between the English International Rugby team and a tea-bag. After I said no, get to the point (😂), he said the tea-bag stays in the “Cup” longer! Ouch!!
That's the scoop from here. Best wishes to everyone, where-ever they may living now, and to my former colleagues from 1970 - 1979. Where the heck does the time go!?
Colin.
https://expobermuda.com/index.php/tan/76-cmackenzie?highlight=WyJjb2xpbiBtYWNrZW56aWUiXQ==
10th January
What a chilly start to the year - Bermuda is sure going through a long spell of cold, wet, and exceptionally windy weather over Christmas and into the New Year although all things are relative! By our standards, this cold spell, with temperatures sometimes dropping below 60 degrees (we’re expecting a low tonight of 50 degrees), and never-ending blustery high winds from storm force to gale force – and beyond - is downright miserable, but who are we to complain?
We’re inundated with news of severe floods in the UK followed by heavy snows and freezing temperatures resulting in flood waters now freezing over, and bitterly cold weather in Scotland with thermometers forecast to be plunging down to minus 16C this weekend.
We hear of freezing cold Arctic air blasting across the US which is especially dangerous when combined with high winds, although extremely cold weather with high winds must be preferable to the horrendous fires rampaging through the LA area where they have been rapidly spreading so quickly during winds as high as 100mph.
The above photo was taken in England during ‘The Big Freeze’ that struck the UK during the winter of 1962-63 when I was a young constable on the beat in Bilston, near Birmingham. It was said to have been the coldest winter since 1895. ‘The Big Freeze’ brought the whole of the UK to a standstill in the middle of December 1962, caused by huge snow storms followed by bitterly cold weather with persistent temperatures below freezing until Easter 1963. There were reports of the sea freezing up to a mile off the coast of Kent.
The “bobby” above is wearing a regulation police issue “great coat” which was much less than great for protection against the persistent bitter cold. Made of wool it was stiff as a board, weighed a ton, it wasn’t waterproof and it didn’t compare with today’s lightweight puffer coats. I vividly recall wearing thick pyjamas night and day – never taking them off – under my uniform - two pairs of socks, my white gloves underneath black leather gloves, and a thick sweater under my uniform jacket. Even then it was so bitterly cold that we were allowed extra time in the station (Bilston had the only police station in England with a “moat”!) during the night and drank endless mugs of hot tea. A large thermometer near the Town Hall in Bilston dropped down as low as 5 degrees F at night.
With that winter in mind I jumped at the chance to apply to join the Bermuda Police and found myself the following June wandering the beat in Hamilton wearing short-sleeved shirts, Bermuda shorts, and exactly the same “bobby” hat - and that was 60 years ago.
This column is intended for you, our readers, to write about what you’re doing, where you are these days, and for us to keep in touch with each other. We would be pleased to hear from you, wherever you are, and right now we would be interested to know about the weather in your part of the world.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and much warmer New Year