Our Annual ExPo Reception was held at the Officers Mess, Prospect, on the evening of Saturday 3rd February 2018, and with over 80 attendees it was one of our most succcessful events for many years.
Among the guests were retired Commissioner Fred Bean and his wife Romaine; one of our oldest retirees former Sergeant Dudley Proctor who recently spent some time in King Edward Hospital; Michael Phillips who has also had some major health issues; and one of the first Treasurers of the Bermuda Ex-Police Officers Association, Tony Saunders and his wife Janice.
We also had two surprise visitors from abroad, Richard "Rocky" Ironmonger and his wife Maureen, who are presently enjoying an extended stay on Island, no doubt to avoid the the cold and miserable weather in the UK.
You can view an album of photos taken during the reception at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/photo-gallery/exporeception2018#!IMG_8756
Roger Sherratt thanked everyone present for attending, including not only our retired and former police offficers, but also spouses, widows and friends.
Commissioner Michael DeSilva usually attends most of the ExPo social events but sent his apologies as he had a prior engagement. Roger noted that Commissioner DeSilva had decided to retire in June of 2016, and he had always been a strong supporter of ExPo who will hopefully continue his support by joining our organisation as soon as he is qualified to do so!
Those in attendance enjoyed a slideshow showing throughout the gathering which contained many historic photos together with photos submitted along with some of the latest articles posted on our ExPo website, such as an excellent article about former P.C. Arthur Childs who was Bermuda's boxing champion in the 1930's and 40's. This article can be found in our 'Hall of Fame' and was written by retired Supt. George Rose after he conducted extensive research and interviewed surviving members of Arthur's family which included, amazingly, his wife who is still living here in Bermuda at the age of 104. An article about John Barnett was recently published in the "Then and Now"column, and new articles have just been submitted by Mike Cherry and John Skinner, both of which will be published in the near future. Roger encouraged anyone and everyone who has served in the Bermuda Police to consider writing their own life stories and submitting them for publication.
Special mention was made of those former officers who have passed away during the past year which included, Denis Byrne, Ron Beech, Harry Leman, Alexander "Sandy" Sommerville, George Linnen, Ron Shelley, Vendon Archer, Ian Ferguson, Ian Scotland, Alistair "Shakey" Johnson, Jean-Jacques Lemay, and Gary Perinchief (Takbir Sharrieff). More details of all of the above can be found on our ExPo website.
Upon reading out the list of our deceased colleagues we gave a toast to absent friends.
Our reception provides a very special occasion to meet up with old friends and colleagues, and to reminisce about "the good old days" and share in the unique cameraderie we all enjoy as former members of the Bermuda Police Service.
Roger also sincerely thanked Dave and Patsy Cook who arranged for and collected all of the food and organized the set-up for the evening, and Inspectors Grant Tomkins and Colin King for their invaluable services behind the bar.
