Most of us can still remember where we were the day President Kennedy was assassinated, and when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, but how many of us can recall exactly where we were when history was made on 30^th July 1966 at Wembley Stadium in England? This was, of course, the momentous day when England played Germany in the Final of the 1966  World Cup.

I was a young police constable in Bermuda at that time, living in Henderson Block in the Police Barracks at Prospect, and working as a duty driver in Central Division.  Off duty constables would often spend their leisure time at Elbow Beach Hotel where we were allowed to mingle with tourists on the beach, and where playing volleyball was a regular pastime with staff from the hotel along with visitors. 

One such visitor was the American actor, Tony Curtis who patiently waited his turn to join us in a game. Most of you will no doubt remember our good friend Mickey Caines who ran the beach concessions.  It is fitting that after Mickey died a few years ago, the hotel built an excellent restaurant right on the beach and named it Mickey’s in memory of a great guy who befriended everyone and was also an outstanding football player.  If you now live overseas but plan to visit Bermuda any time soon I would strongly recommend eating at Mickeys.

On the day of that epic Final at Wembley it was impossible to watch it live on TV in Bermuda even though this was the first ever World Cup to be transmitted around the world by satellite. In fact it’s estimated that more than 400 million people around the world in 75 countries were glued to the screen that day and were also able to watch slow motion replays for the first time - in black and white of course!

Fortunately, the game was also broadcast live on BBC radio around the world and a group of us were invited to listen to the match at Elbow Beach Staff Quarters along with an exuberant group of German staff and friends.  We Brits (Limeys) were hopelessly outnumbered.  I would have to say that we were only cautiously optimistic but at least we were playing on home soil.

The match totally lived up to expectations and was a classic between two well-matched teams.  We were all glued to the radio and to the dulcet tones of “The Voice of Football” during that era, Kenneth Wolstenholme.  Our only problem was that reception was by no means perfect and the noise of the spectators often drowned out Mr. Wolstenholme’s superb commentary.

Our Limey contingent was disappointed when Germany went ahead 1-0, this being only the second goal scored against England during the World Cup campaign, and the first time we had been behind. Our spirits were lifted when England first equalized and then went ahead 2-1 with just minutes to go.

The crowd noise was almost deafening so it was impossible to hear exactly what was going on, but with just seconds to go there was an enormous roar and it was obvious someone has scored.  We could eventually make out that Germany had equalized and the game was going into overtime.

Another huge roar heralded the first goal in overtime  and it was a minute or so before we could hear that Geoff Hurst had scored again, his second of the match, to bring the score to 3-2. It has to be said that this goal has been hotly disputed from that day to this as it hit the crossbar and ricocheted down to the goalline.  It  was deemed to have crossed the line only after the referee consulting with his linesman.   Modern technology has been used quite recently to analyse the decision and it appears that the ball never completely crossed the line.

We were not aware of any dispute at the time, but again, with just seconds to go, there was yet another almighty roar for another goal and once again we had no idea who had scored except it was hard to believe that German fans at Wembley could have made such an almighty ruckus.  The crowd roar was so deafening that we never heard the immortal words uttered by Kenneth Wolstenholme, “Some people are on the pitch. They think it’s over   …. and it is NOW”!

It was with great relief that we Limeys could finally make out that Geoff Hurst had scored his third goal with a blistering drive to put England ahead 4-2 and cement his name in football  history as the only player from that day to this to have scored a hat trick in a World Cup Final.  Fittingly, Kenneth Wolstenholme later wrote his autobiography entitled, “They Think It’s Over”!

Fifty years later, a series of events are being held around the UK to celebrate our only ever World Cup Final victory, and I had the privilege of attending one such celebration - a Gala Dinner at the Kings Hall in Stoke-on-Trent held on Friday 22^nd April 2016. Guests of honour were five of the players from the 1966 World Cup Squad.  As a “Stokie” it was great to see and have a brief chat with the legendary England goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, who came to play for Stoke City shortly after the World Cup. I had met Gordon previously on a visit to my home town of Biddulph where he had built and opened a squash club by the 1970’s.

Also in attendance at the event were Sir Geoffrey Hurst, Jackie Charlton,  George Cohen and Norman Hunter, all of whom were interviewed onstage and fondly reminisced about the 1966 World Cup campaign.  Sir Geoffrey was the first one to say that although he was classed as the hero of the Final with his 3 goals, the real heroes were the brilliant players who were the backbone of the team, such as Bobby Moore, a truly inspirational captain who was described by Sir Alf Ramsey as “the spirit and heartbeat of the team”,  Nobby Stiles in defence, and Alan Ball who was indefatigable. Sir Geoff and everyone present also agreed that Sir Alf Ramsay was a superb manager who brought the absolute best out of his team.

It’s hard to imagine in this day and age when international players all receive mega-salaries, that pay for our 1966 heroes in no way compares to today’s multi-million dollars salaries. 

The England Squad were paid £600 for each World Cup match played, and $1,000 each for those who played in the Final.  Of course this was much better than the pay for top footballers in England prior to 1961 when the maximum was £20 pounds per week.  My pay as a Police Constable in the Staffordshire Police in the early 1960’s was almost £10 pounds per week.

There were no substitutes during the 1966 Final, and only the eleven players who took to the field for England that day received World Cup Winners medals.  It wasn’t until 10^th June 2009 that all players and staff were presented with World Cup Winners medals during a ceremony held at #10 Downing Street. Ironically, of the original 11 players to receive medals only three players have retained them and they are Bobby and Jackie Charlton and Roger Hunt,  Some of the former players sold them to museums for posterity while others fell on hard times and sold their medals privately.  It’s hard to imagine today’s England players selling their medals to help support their families. How times have changed!

I have tried to describe my own personal recollections of listening to that epic World Cup Final way back in 1966, and I would encourage our readers to write in and let us know where you were and what you can recall of the day when England ruled the world in football!

On a personal note I would like to thank my good friend, recently retired Chief Superintendent  Steff Lingren of the Staffordshire Police who was one of the organizers of the event. Steff not only kindly obtained a ticket for me for the Gala Dinner, but also obtained a ticket for me to watch Stoke City playing Spurs at a time when Spurs were pushing hard for the Premier League title.   The result was not what I had hoped for, with Spurs playing superbly and winning 4-0, but without exception the Stoke fans around me agreed that Spurs were the best team they had seen all season  at Brittania Stadium.  As of this writing Leicester City upset all the odds (at 5,000 – 1 against) and clinched the Premier League title with two more matches to play.  A remarkable achievement, as was England winning the World Cup 50 years ago.

A long time ago, in a far off distant land, known as The Isles of Devils, there existed a ‘Watch’, also referred to as a ‘Shift’ in some jurisdictions, simply named ‘B’ Watch. There were many wise men who opined on the derivation of this tag ‘B’, since there were so many possibilities in the dictionary, and in particular, on the personnel who worked Island-wide within this unit.

The positivity of the pronouncements depended largely on whether or not you wished to be dealt with by them, or whether you really wanted them not to be dealing with you. For it was known that there was no finer group of men within the Bermuda Police Force in the 1970s. They all worked very hard together but they also played very hard together when not working and this included their families.

They operated by what many other Police officers saw as unorthodox, but always legal means, even if their methods were not taught in the Training School, or always permitted by Senior officers.

On one occasion, when there was a report of a prowler outside a woman’s house in Spanish Point, the first vehicle to go 10-8 (“have arrived’) at the scene, within minutes, was the St. George’s local vehicle, which should not have been on this side of the Causeway! Lenny Creighton and Stuart Kirkpatrick were in the vehicle that night and their ‘defence’ was “We were on our way to Operations for gas, Sarge!”

Police Constable 214 Andrew (Andy) Comrie Hall fitted extremely well into this close-knit band of men. He always said that his father meant to call him Crombie, but was still celebrating his birth and spelt his middle name incorrectly at the Registry office.

Although both Andy and myself were born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, we were from opposite sides of the Great Football Divide. Andy was a Rangers supporter and I was a supporter of their great rivals Celtic. We always had a bet on the game each time they played against each other. It was a standing bet, even if neither of us was in Bermuda. It was just expected that we had a bet on the game which was usually $10. We bet against each other many other times as our way of settling a dispute or difference of opinion.

In those days it was quite common for ‘B’ Watch personnel to attend at the R.A.F.A. Club in the morning at the end of a week of nights. This stay usually lasted until just before midday when we would make our way to the PRC. When it closed at 2.30pm it was time to attend for dominoes and/or cards at the Mariners’ Club.

One day Andy and I got into an argument about some rule in football, ‘soccer’ as it is sometimes called. We were unable to resolve it there and then despite the input from our other assembled football ‘experts.’ However, one of them did suggest a solution as to which one of us knew the most about the Rules of Football. The Bermuda Football Referees Association was holding its annual Rules Examination that evening at the National Stadium. The only problem was that it started at 5.30pm. We therefore had to go straight from the Mariners’ Club to the National Stadium.

We both passed the written exam and they then announced that we had to go straight to Police Field for the second part. You can imagine our surprise when they told us it was a physical exam! We had to run laps around the field and then run sprint shuttles. This was after our busy day in the aforementioned establishments! I do remember that I beat Andy but I can’t remember what my prize was.

Perhaps one of the strangest bets that Andy and I had was made another morning in the R.A.F.A. Club. Andy said that I could not eat a dozen hard boiled eggs without a drink. After some negotiations I was permitted to use as much Mayonaise as I wished. The event was scheduled for the next Monday morning after our Night shift in the same venue. The bet on this occasion was a case of beer. I had to provide the Mayonaise and Andy would provide the eggs.

I didn’t give it any further thoughts until the big morning arrived. We gathered at the R.A.F.A. Club and after a couple of beers I was ready to face the challenge. I had my large bottle of Mayonaise. Andy then produced his masterstroke! He had bought a dozen Jumbo sized eggs! That’s when it dawned on me that we had not even discussed the size of the eggs. I did manage to struggle through the whole dozen eggs to claim my case of beer.

‘B’ Watch played cards at any opportunity, whether it was a get-together on our days off, or during our refreshments (refs) breaks on nights. In those days the Traffic patrols took their refs from 4.00am until 6.00am. Most incidents occurring during these times would be dealt with by the Divisions. However, not all. If an alarm went off, or there was an urgent call then the whole of Traffic attended and it was like a race to be first on the scene, irrespective of which area you had been assigned to.

It was during one of these card games, we always played our own version of ‘Trumps,’ that a call came in to the Operations Centre where we were playing at about 5.10am. Andy, as Duty Officer, answered. It was from a woman on Harbour Road, Warwick, reporting that there was a man at Darrell’s Wharf acting suspiciously. He was apparently walking around and not staying still, whilst glancing out towards the harbor and up and down Harbour Road.

Attending this incident would have resulted in the card school being disbanded. Andy must have had a good hand and been in line to win the $1.00 per person stake, because he had a brilliant idea. He knew that there was a public telephone in the shelter at Darrell’s Wharf, so he suggested looking up the number and calling it. He duly got the number, dialed it and the man answered. He was put onto the speaker so that we could all listen.

Andy explained that he was calling from Police Headquarters and since we were carrying out observations in the area, we had noticed that he had been hanging about for the last ten minutes or so, was there any particular reason why he was there? The man replied that he was waiting for his friend to pick him up in his boat so that they could go fishing. He was supposed to be picked up at 6.00am. Andy then asked him if he could leave the area until closer to 6.00am and then come back. The man agreed to this request and hung up.

Andy waited a minute and then called back the woman who had called in the report. He asked her if the man was still there and received the response that the strangest thing had happened. Shortly after she had called, the man used the phone in the shelter and then left the area. Andy replied that we had sent an unmarked car through the area to check it out and it was all clear. The woman had seen a car on the road. We were then able to resume and complete our card game. Another report resolved in a manner that is not taught in any Police Training Manual.

Editors note  -  The photograph of Traffic Department above was taken in 1978, and we wonder how many of them were members of "B" Watch.  I had the privilege of being the Sergeant in charge of "B" Watch for several years and I can say without hesitation that it was the finest group of police officers I ever worked with.   As Charlie says above, they played hard but they also worked very hard, and could always be counted on to deal with difficult situations.

Just one brief story I can recall about "B" Watch.  We had been working on Late Shift 4pm-12 pm and on this particular evening the Police Club had a special on for some new brand of beer.  It was either free or being sold at a ridiculously low price just for that one evening.  As soon as they knocked off work all the members of my Watch scampered up to the Club for the cheap beer - all except two, myself and one P.C. who I believe was either Roger Brydon or Barry Higham.  We were dealing with an accident and didn't get off duty until after 12.30am and the bar was closing at 1am.   All our "B" Watch lads had consumed ast least 5 or 6 beers by the time we arrived, but by 1am my partner had caught up with them on at least 8 or 9.  I have to admit that I was almost a non-drinker and only managed one  - a very poor effort by "B" Watch standards!

Without going through the list in great details I remember the following members of "B" Watch during my time:-   Andy Hall, Barry Higham, Steve Peterson, Tony Laughton,  Roger Brydon, Bruce Bingley, Dennis Gordon, Archie Husbands, Charlie Mooney, Roger Beschizza, Lyndon Lewis,  the irrepressible George Rushe, Dave "Pointed Stick" O'Meara, and John Baxter to name some of them.

If you served on "B" Watch please feel free to send us any photos you have, and  your recollections of your time with the lads.  Here's a few photos to start off the collection.  Anyone who worked in Traffic will recall that we always had to wash and clean our patrol cars on Sunday morning's - or incurr the wrath of Chief Inspector Ernie Moniz!

7th April 2016

Charlie Mooney provided the following additional details about "B" Watch in Traffic and around the island:-

In addition to the persons listed, some of the other notables on 'B' Watch Traffic included:
Gerry James, Orson Daisley and I think Eddie Foggo may have been before Gerry.
There was also Ray Bell, Roger Beschizza, Lyndon Lewis, Anthony 'Tinker' Taylor, Gary Murrell, George Rushe.
We didn't really have much movement from 'B' Watch over the mid to late 70s.
In St. Geoge's we had Brian Flook, John Morris, Lenny Creighton, Donald Grant, Dave Shakeshaft, Stuart Kirkpatrick, and Pete Shaw.
Somerset had John 'Coco' Eve, Gerry Lyons, Andy Donaldson, who locked up Somerset station one night to attend a 10-55 at Crockwell's on Middle Road, Warwick in a Kombi!
I can only remember Brian Malpas, Mincy Rawlins, Coghlan 'Coggie' Gibbons and Jonathan Smith in Hamilton.
FYI - Today is National Beer Day. Should be at PRC this afternoon with the other retirees in our corner!!!!