Our annual ExPo BBQ was held at the Police Recreation Club last Saturday 15th September 2018, attended by well over 60 of our members and friends. Once again, the weather refused to cooperate so the function had to be moved inside at the last moment, but rain failed to dampen the spirits of those in attendance and the BBQ was a outstanding success.
Congratulations to our new ExPo Committee headed by President Brian Robinson, Vice President Cal Smith and a great team of volunteers, including Brian’s wife, Sharon, who worked tirelessly to make this an excellent evening.
For the first time in years we enjoyed live music courtesy of The Travellers who took us back in time - to our time! Retired Assistant Commissioner Carlton Adams manned the bar; the food was excellent, and a great time was had by all.
We were delighted to see Dave Garland in attendance after his recovery from heart surgery a couple of months ago, and in high spirits following England’s Test Match victory against India.
To view the complete album of photos of this event please go to http://expobermuda.com/index.php/photo-gallery/expo-annual-bbq-2018#!IMG_8851
Our collective emories were challenged with a series of quiz questions from Roger Sherratt. The questions included:-
• What is the total number of years service in the BPS by all of our retired and former officers in attendance?
• Who is the longest serving police officer in attendance?
• In the 1950’s the BPS would issue “Green Tickets”. How did someone “qualify” for a green ticket?
• Which Commissioner made the following comment shortly after he was appointed, “Somerset Police Station is the worst police station I have ever visited anywhere in the World”?
• Dave Cooper’s list of police officers who have served in the BPS contains more names beginning with the letter ‘S’ than any other letter of the alphabet. How many can you name in 2 minutes?
ANSWERS –
• Our combined length of service was 618 years;
• Our longest service police officer in attendance was retired Assistant COP Carlton Adams who has a total of 41 years service, plus an extra 7 years as a consultant working on “cold crimes” - 48 years in total.
• Retired COP Fred ‘Penny’ Bean had no problem with the question about Green Tickets as he was the only person present who served during the days when Green Tickets were issued to young ladies wearing shorts that were considered to be too short! Ladies ‘qualified’ for a ticket if their shorts were more than 3 inches above their knees. And yes, there was only one way to establish whether the law was being broken and that was for an officer to take out his tape measure and check for himself! You can find the wording of these Green Tickets elsewhere on our website.
• COP Colin Coxall made the statement about the deplorable condition of Somerset Police Station which was completely refurbished within two years.
• The maximum number of names beginning with “S” submitted within two minutes was 18, but there are at least 225 on Coop’s list. How many can you count?