Colin “Dusty” Hind was born in the holiday resort town of Skegness, in Lincolnshire, England, in 1941. Dusty had been involved in professional repertory theatre while attending Portsmouth Art College where he obtained a degree in sculpture. He joined the Hector Ross Repertory Company at the Theatre Royal in Portsmouth, and he was impressed by one of their productions, “The Long and the Short and the Tall” with its all male cast. This play later made its way to London’s West End – and eventually here to Bermuda, thanks to Dusty!
Prior to coming to Bermuda in September 1962 at the age of 21 he had been a teacher in Portsmouth. At the time of his joining the Bermuda Police, our new Commissioner, Mr. George Robins, when recruiting officers from overseas, was a great believer that preference should be given to recruits who had talents that would help them to more easily assimilate into the local community. Commissioner Robins was an avid sports fan and many of his chosen recruits played rugby, football cricket or other sports. Playing sports was not one of Dusty’s attributes but it wouldn’t be long before his theatrical talents would come to the fore.
Dusty was one of 8 young men recruited from the U.K. none of whom had any prior police experience. They were Alistair Garden, James “Jack” Crane, John Cooney, Frank Mutch, David Adam, Frank Sykes, Anthony “Tony” Langford, and Dusty. A new Police Training School had been established at Prospect in early 1962, and they all attended the 2nd Basic Training Course held there, along with local recruits, Edward ”Boxhead” Foggo, Phillip Smith, Marcus Packwood, Lennett “Lenny” Edwards, and Henry Eugene "Gene” Creighton.
After successfully completing basic training, “Dusty” as he was always known, was posted to Central Division, Hamilton, where he would have walked the beat for 18 months, wearing Bermuda shorts, knee length socks and an English style bobby helmet. One of his duties would have been the onerous task of directing traffic in the birdcage on Front Street, much to the delight of tourists armed with cameras.
Whilst working in Hamilton, Dusty struck up a friendship with a fellow constable, Ron Shelley, who had joined the Police in 1960 having served in the Royal Air Force from 1955-1959. The two discovered they shared something in common - an interest in theatre although Dusty later explained that “Ron had zero experience but he had an incredible entrepreneurial spirit and was intrigued by, and wanted to do something in theatre.”
Young P.C. Ron Shelley
It was during one of their conversations in the Police Cub bar that Dusty and Ron came up with the idea of the police putting on a play with a difference at the City Hall theatre which had opened in 1960. Dusty recalled the West End success of “The Long and the Short and the Tall”, which had particular appeal because it had an all-male cast. The two believed there was sufficient talent in the Police to provide the all male cast - and the concept of creating a Police Drama Group was born.
Although there was some initial resistance from senior officers about policemen taking to the stage, a breakthrough occurred when Supt. John McGregor was recruited from the UK to head the newly created Special Branch here in Bermuda. He, too, had performed in amateur theatre; he had seen the “Long and the Short and the Tall” playing in the West End, and he was keen to play the role of the Sergeant even if it meant an on-stage reduction in rank!
There were also several young constables such as Jack Rouse and Peter Parnell who had acting experience, and it was quickly realized that not only were there members of the Force who had acting ability, there were some with the skills to work as back stage crew.
With Commissioner Robins’ blessing the decision was made to put on “The Long and the Short and the Tall” at City Hall Theatre, and with an abundance of volunteers including police wives and girlfriends, and fellow police officers, rehearsals got underway at the Police Recreation Club. Despite having no previous experience, Ron Shelley directed the play, with assistance from Dusty. They had two weeks of rehearsals, and with minimal cash they built a set at Prospect, moved it down to City Hall shortly before opening night, and had a 4-night run.
It has to be said that it wasn’t well attended at first, but Dusty and Ron hatched a publicity scheme to attract a bigger audience - and it worked! CLICK HERE to read more about their “scandalous scheme” along with the run of plays subsequently put on at City Hall in our extensive article on the History of the Police Drama Group.
Dusty also managed to find his share of “drama” off stage! He had been transferred to the newly formed Special Branch in July 1964, no doubt due to his connection with John McGregor, Head of Special Branch. He was on duty in "plain clothes" on the morning of February 2nd 1965 when the BELCO riot took place in which 17 uniformed police officers were injured at the scene outside BELCO. CLICK HERE to view an article on the BELCO Riot.
Following the outbreak of violence a police riot squad was called to disperse the large crowd gathered on Serpentine Road, many of those present made their way to Devonshire Recreation Club, where Dusty had apparently been assigned to monitor what was happening in the area. Unfortunately, he was spotted in the vicinity of the “Rec” and physically attacked and injured by several members of the crowd, resulting in him being admitted to King Edward Hospital for treatment along with several of the uniformed policemen injured outside BELCO. Perhaps for reasons of security, the injured policemen were housed in, of all places, the Maternity Ward.
“Boys in Blue” in Maternity Ward - 3rd February 1965Dusty quickly recovered from his injuries, and following a spell in Special Branch, he was posted to Eastern Division, St. George’s, in October 1965.
Our Police Drama Group was in good hands with Dusty as the inspirational leader and creative force behind its continued success. As long as he remained in the Police our drama group thrived but Dusty's creative talents needed to be stretched and he resigned in February 1966.
He returned to the U.K. in 1966 but came back to Bermuda later in the year to marry Nancy Conyers, and he joined John White at Advertising Associates for three years before starting his own advertising company, Aardvark Advertising Ltd. in 1970. It was surely a stroke of genius for Dusty to use the name “Aardvark Advertising” because it was guaranteed to be the first name in the telephone directory!
When then Inspector Roger Sherratt, while working in the Police Community Recreation Department, came up with the idea of creating a series of Sports Superstar cards in 1986, he approached his old friend Dusty, and together with Tim Taylor, Aardvark designed the excellent layout of the cards honouring Bermuda's top athletes, and the cards proved to be exceptionally popular with the Island's schoolchildren - and adults - so much so that a second edition of high quality Junior Superstar cards was launched in 1969, as seen below featuring one of Bermuda's outstanding Superstars.
Shawn Goater
During the next three decades Aardvark gained an excellent reputation and picked up many major clients including the Bank of Butterfield, A.S. Cooper’s, Bacardi International, the Princess Hotels, Cable and Wireless, Crisson’s and Reveen. Dusty sold the business to their staff in 1998, and returned to his roots in theatre right here in Bermuda which he always believed had an abundance of talent.
Dusty remarried in 1986 to Barbara O'Shaunessy. Their beautifully picturesque wedding took place on a boat in Paradise Lake by Long Island in Hamilton Harbour, with Barbara arriving by boat.
In 1993 Dusty started the Jabulani Repertory Company with Patricia Podgson Nesbit producing shows in the Gazebo Lounge of the Hamilton Princess. During the next five years, Dusty and Patricia put on 23 different productions including musicals such as “Nunsense”, “Once on this Island” and “One Mo’ Time”. They also produced a series of comedies and murder mysteries utilizing over 100 local actors, actresses and backstage people. Dusty says, “Everyone got paid... Not big bucks...but it was a professional enterprise. Great fun and it introduced our visitors to local performers.”
The project closed in November 1998, and Dusty was proud of the fact that two of their performers, Lana Young and Darren Herbert, went on to successful professional careers as actors.
Bored with retirement, Dusty then started the Crisson and Hind African Gallery in 1999 at 71 Front Street, Hamilton which specializes in sculpture in stone, ten different minerals, by the Shona Fine Artists of Zimbabwe. As Dusty said, “It’s a great excuse to go to Africa once or twice a year. Still having fun.”
Ironically, it was in the Crisson and Hind African Gallery that I finally met up with Ron Shelley and Dusty - who as young police constables in the early 1960’s created our Bermuda Police Drama Group which I’d like to think gave so much pleasure to so many people - myself included. We reminisced about our collective memories of the Police Drama Group and Ron told us something of his life experiences in the entertainment industry in New York. I had planned to have him write an article for our "Then and Now" column but lost contact with him after his visit. He did however, send me this photo of himself with one of the greatest stars of American opera and music, Kelli O'Hara.
Ron Shelley with Broadway superstar Kelli O'Hara
In August 2017, former members and friends of our Police Drama Group gathered for a reunion at the Officers Mess at Prospect.
The Drama Group "Get Together" was a great success as several of those in attendance brought along photos, press cuttings and programmes of our drama group productions, including Kate (Byrne) Shaw who unveiled a suitcase of memorabila collected by her father, Denis. It certainly brought back many fond memories of our magic times in the Police Drama Group with Dusty at the helm.
Dusty had for many years been fascinated by African Art, and as a Trustee of the Bermuda National Gallery, he along with fellow Trustees Cyril Packwood and Dr. Charles Zuill, were instrumental in the BNG deciding to create a National Collection of African Art as both a national platform for local artists and to honour the cultural heritage of Bermuda's African diaspora. CLICK HERE to read Dusty's account of sourcing artworks for the National Collection of African Art consisting of 37 works, representing 22 peoples from 12 countries in sub-Saharan West Africa, ranging from ritual sculpture to masks, functional objects and textiles.
There is no question that from the moment Dusty stepped off the plane in Bermuda back in September 1962 as a young police recruit, he devoted so much of his time, energy and talents to enhance the arts on the Island that he rightfully called his home.
Dusty with his son Peter, and grandson William
On behalf of all Dusty's friends from his days in the Police Force, we offer our sincere condolences to his loving wife Barbara O'Shaunessy-Hind, sons Peter and Mike, and grandchildren Nina, Lexi and William.