Flanagan's on Front Street was the venue on 16th April 2017 for a very special 80th Birthday Party for our old friend and colleague, Dave Garland. And what a great location for a party - on the patio at Flanagan's overlooking Front Street and Hamilton Harbour on a beautiful evening. There are advantages to having a son who is a director/owner of Bermuda's number 1 sports bar!
Dave is a Yorkshireman "through and through" having arrived on our shores as a young police constable in 1961 after serving in the East Yorkshire Police for 2 years. During his time in the Bermuda Police, Dave served in Central Division (Hamllton), Cycle Squad, Central CID, Murder Room and for several years as the Inspector in charge of Marine Section before he left the BPS in 1976 and went on to work for Marine and Ports as a Fisheries Officer.
Dave has many claims to fame, not least of which was his prowess on the sports field. He has always been a keen sportsman who played in our first ever Police Hockey Team when it was formed in 1962 (see article at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/who-when-where/235-hockeyteam). He played regularly for our Police football team, and for our Rugby team at a time when the Police team was dominant in local rugby (for photographs of our rugby teams see http://expobermuda.com/index.php/articles/202-rugbyteamphotos). In his spare time he was also a member of the Police Darts Team!
There is just a hint of Dave's love of sports in the design of his 80th birthday cake, and if you look carefully at the flag on the photo below you can see why this article is entitled "80 not out"! We are not aware of Dave ever having played cricket in Bermuda but he is an avid fan of the Yorkshire cricket team and was hailing England cricket captain Joe Root as the next Len Hutton at least 5 years ago, long before Root became a household name on the cricket field.
Dave took up golf when his two children, Chris and Caitlin were young, and he was instrumental in setting up the Bermuda Junior Golf Association and volunteered on their committee for years. Chris is an excellent golfer and Caitlin can more than hold her own on the links. Dave still plays regularly with the Bermuda Seniors and is always highly competitive.
Dave is also a "jack-of-all trades" who, together with Derek Jenkinson, took it upon themselves back in 1962 to build our first ever Police boat which resulted in the creation of the Police Marine Section. (See article at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/articles/10-first-boat
Many young police officers will have fond memories of being invited over to Dave and Sue Garland's home at Prospect for a meal where they would always be made to feel welcome, especially at Christmas time.
Dave's 80th party was attended by many of the folks who were involved with him during his sporting days, and especially the founder members of the Bermuda Junior Golfers Association. Also in attendance were Clive and Penny Donald, Bill and Molly Butterfield, Roger and Marian Sherratt, Serge and Pam Leibowich (our ex-rugby players will remember Serge), and Vic and Sally Zelkin. Vic will no doubt be known by many of our ExPo members.
Both Dave and Sue remain active and are very involved with their two gorgeous grrandchildren Jody and Isla, who reside here on Island with their parents Caitlin and Ross Curtis. We recently published an article about former Bermuda Police Officers and their grandchildren, including Dave, which you can view at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/articles/530-grandparents
We wish Dave and Sue continued good health for many years to come.