Early
Days:
Although most of my life has been spent on Stoke-on-Trent, I was born
at Cheadle, just outside the Potteries, in 1922. The 1920s and 1930s were a
time of economic depression in England. My home was a small terrace house,
whose facilities would make today's
social security benefits look like the height of luxury. The sole
means of heating and lighting was a small coal fire and lighting was by oil
lamp, the wick of which had to be constantly trimmed. The toilet was outside
and I have vague memories of it being emptied by night soil collectors
before a flush toilet was installed. I recall being taken to Harewood Road.
Where the J.C.B. factory now stands, to watch the miners outcropping for
coal during the 1926 coal strike.
I attended local schools
and spent most of my playtime outside of school, in the nearby fields and
woods. Our childhood games consisted of rounders with apiece of wood and a
rubber ball, hoop-la, whip and top, Jack shine a light, cigarette flicking
and collecting. There were two cinemas in Cheadle I remember seeing the
first talking film at the Osbourne, Al Jolson singing Sonny Boy. This film
was released in 1929 and probably it was about 1932 when it arrived at
Cheadle. Prior to this silent
films were accompanied by a lady on the piano.
In the 1930s Meir Airport
opened and we used to walk from Cheadle to see the planes taking off.
I left school at 14 years and went
work at a local shop for six months for a weekly wage of 6 shillings (30p).
I then went to Thomas Boultons copper works at Froghall.
When war broke out I went a
firm in Derby which made webbing. On one occasion when the bus failed to
turn up on account of snow, myself and a friend walked all the way to Derby
for a ten hour shift
Royal
Naval Patrol Service:
In February 1942 I joined the
Royal Naval Patrol Service, distinguished from the Navy proper by the daily
issue of rum being served neat, instead of two parts water (grog). I served
in home waters, then in Iceland and the Artic. In 1944 on the way back to
England, the boat I was on was sunk halfway across the Atlantic. The crew
ere picked up by a whaler and taken to Kirkwall in the Orkneys. The to Weyms
Bay at the tip of Scotland, then a two day journey by train to our base at
Lowestoft, where we were given two weeks survivors leave Back at base, I sat
and passed an exam for Petty Officer and spent the rest of my service at
base until I was demobbed in 1946. Between 1946 and 1949 I visited the
Potteries quite frequently, never further than Hanley. One of the busiest
pubs at this time was the Port Vale, still plenty of sevicemen there
including Americans and almost every cinema, of which there plenty, had
queues a mile long, you had to wait for someone to come out before you get
in.
Stoke-on-Trent
City Police:
In February, 1949 I joined the Stoke-on-Trent City Police. After a
training period I was posted to
Burslem. A different Police Force than today. The majority of Officers were
on foot, on the beats, or specific areas. When you went out at night, there
was no contact with anyone, only via public telephone, if you had problems
in between, too bad, you were on your own. At Burslem one of the first
duties at night, was to the Nile Street Brickworks,
The kilns that had just been emptied and were still warm, were the
haunt of the local down and outs, including the best known character,
Vincent Riley, of methelated spirits fame. If the kilns were cold, they
would light a brazier fire in the middle and close off the vents with metal sheeting. When this was pulled away and you went in the
kiln, it would be filled with acrid smoke, how nobody was ever suffocated I
will never know After 12 months
I was moved to Tunstall.
Looking around Tunstall now there are very few business’s
still there from 1950. The Modern Stores in Tower Square is one.
Not there now, but in the 1950’ Graham Bourne had a cycle shop at the top
of Tower square. Graham used to have regular disputes with the Police over
placing his cycles in the roadway. He went on to become the millionaire
owner of North Wales Holiday sites. I think Graham passed away at an early
age.
Tunstall Tower Square and
Town Hall
At this time traffic duty outside the Town Hall was a
regular duty, from 4p.m. to 6p.m. each weekday. Not very popular in freezing
cold weather, especially since the traffic seemed to sort itself as well, or
better without it.
One night at about 10p.m. I was in the old Police Station in Wesley Street
when a man walked in with a dart sticking straight up out of the top of his
head. This was a result of playing darts in the Oddfellows Arms at the top
of Tower Square. The dart resisted all efforts to remove it and he had to go
the N.S.R.I. On the same night shortly afterwards another chap came through
the door in a crouching position, obviously in agony.
No wonder, he had come from the public toilets, where he had zipped
up his trouser fly too quickly and caught a delicate part of his anatomy in
the zip. However there was good news and bad news.
The good news was that their was a Sergeant in the station who headed
the Police First Aid team and he soon started to work with a pair of
scissors. The bad news was the
Sergeants eyesight was not very good at close quarters and after several
howls of anguish from the patient, it was decided to send him to the N.S.R.I.
Special duties were also a feature of Police work, usually
performed on rest days. One of these was at dance halls, keeping out the
drunks and troublemakers. Either at the Town Hall or the Mecca in Greengates
Street. Also at another dance hall in High Street, which I think was the
Scala. Football duty at the New Port Vale ground in Hamil Road, Burslem was
a new one at that time.
At this time. Early fifties, on Sunday everything was closed.
nowhere for youngsters to go. This resulted in every town having its Monkey
Run. Hundreds of young people of both sexes, walking round and round a
proscribed route, in Tunstall it was High Street, Station Road ( the
Boulevard) and Hunt Street, where Tunstall Police Station now stands.
It was the job of the
Police to stop them from stopping to converse with each other and blocking
the pavement. This did not make the Police very popular.
Another rather unpleasant duty, which was curtailed upon amalgamation with
the county, was the killing of animals,
badly injured in road accidents if the owner could not be found.
Each station carried a humane killer a pistol which , when fired,
shot a bolt out into the animals head. Not very humane in the hands of some
one inexperienced and most difficult with a cat. These days it is the job of
a vet.
The new Police Station in Hunt Street, was a big improvement
on the old one in Wesley Street, which was like a large old terrace house,
heated by a very large coal, or sometimes coke, fire in the ground floor
mess room. I read somewhere, where it used to a farmhouse at one time,
however according to Kellys Directory of Staffordshire of 1884, the Police
Office was the situated in Market Street. The same Directory lists a total
of fifty two beer houses in Tunstall at that time.
C.I.D. Department at Burslem:
I later joined the C.I.D. Department at Burslem as
detective Constable. This comprised two rooms in the Police Station., but
was later transferred to the Station Superintendents vacated house, next to
the Station. The house was later demolished.
The City Police was divided into two Divisions, Longton
and Stoke South division and Burslem and Tunstall, North. There plenty of
senior Officers on duty during the day, but at night there was only one
detective constable to cover the whole of the City.
There very few nights that did not entail chasing from
one end of the City to the other.
A
typical example was one Saturday night in the mid 1960s. Straight away at
10p.m. a G.B.H (grievous bodily harm) followed half an hour later by an
attempted rape. By the time these had been sorted out two hours later a
report of a burglary at Fenton. This had a curious twist. The glass in the
front door was smashed and the Yale lock released. Nothing much was
disturbed as was usually the case, however the householder stated that a
large sum of money was missing. Noting that most of the broken glass was
on the outside of the door, I was not surprised when the householder
admitted that the missing cash was not his, but belonged to a club. It was
not long before he admitted staging the burglary to cover up his theft of
the money. Whilst returning to the Police Station a report was received of
a robbery at a petrol station in Scotia Road, Burslem. Two men clad in
balaclavas had burst in the petrol station, threatened the female
attendant and stole a considerable amount of cash. A few minutes after the
robbery the lady had seen a van go past the petrol station in the
direction of Burslem and had been alert enough to note the name of a
butcher on the side. Since there was not much traffic about at this time
of the morning it seemed a good bet that it was the robbers. The owner of
the van was traced and gave the name of an employee who had possession of
the van and his address which was a lodging house in Hanley. The van was
found outside with the engine still warm. The landlord was roused and upon
entering the house, the employee was found sitting in a chair, in the
kitchen at the rear of the house, fast asleep, with the balaclava and the
stolen cash on a table. After being arrested brought to the station and
interviewed, he gave the name of his accomplice who was also arrested and
brought in and charged. Before going home , a brief account of these
incidents would have to be typed up, copies printed and taken to all the
City station for the information of the day staff.
I have mentioned special
duties for uniformed staff, there was one special duty for the C.I.D which I
always enjoyed, which was Uttoxeter racecourse. A handbook of photographs of
known pickpockets was issued by the Metropolitian Police, which was
available for study. These people travelled around the various racecourses
and it was necessary to keep an eye open for them and to deal with any
complaints of theft. I managed to get a few bets on myself , but never
finished up any better off.
The Police Force has always
been a strong supporter of outside
activities. Regular parties and outings were held for the families of
Officers and sport was encouraged, football, cricket and snooker, At Burslem
we had a good sea fishing group.
John Gibson, Jim Chadwick, Ken Robinson, Ted Hall and
myself, from Burslem together with members from Hanley, travelled to
various places around the coast and had some wonderful fishing days.
Entrance to Longton Police
Station
In 1966 I was promoted to
uniform Sergeant and posted to Longton. I stayed there for 12 months, then
in 1968, when the City force amalgamated with the County force, I returned
to Burslem, as a detective sergeant. It was around this time that the Adulte
Ballroom was built on the site of a disused pottery in Waterloo road, where
the supermarket now stands. The Adulte was immensely popular for a number of
years, drawing thousands of people to the area. It was well supervised and
there was very little trouble there.
There are two big
differences in the Police of 30/40 years ago and today. They are drugs and
firearms. Drugs were previously a minor problem, today they are a major
problem. During my time in the C.I.D. there was just one uniformed officer
and one C.I.D. officer from each division and subdivision who had firearm
training. I was the C.I.D. representative for Burslem for some time.
Training was at Lichfield Barracks, with rifle and Walther P36 automatics.
After the attack on Princess Ann in London, when the Walther of the Police
bodyguard jammed they were withdrawn and changed for revolvers. Today Police
armed with assortment of automatic weapons are a common sight on the streets
of British cities.
Retirement
from the police force:
In 1977 I finished my
Police career, having by this time been posted to Hanley as a uniform
Inspector. However I was not retired
for long. One week later I commenced work at H & R Johnsons Tile works
at Tunstall as a Personnel Officer. In common with most of the industry
Johnson's have been drastically reduced in size. When I started there in
1977 there 4,700 employees and factories all over the City, now I believe
there are about 700 employees and one major factory. During my time there,
because of the nature of the job I was doing I made contact with a large
number of workers in the various factories, many of whom I see today, most
of them unfortunately ex employees, some I see at Tunstall Park Bowling
club.
I would like to mention
here the current state of the City parks and in particular Tunstall Park
In
the 1950s and 1960s all the parks were a credit to the City, the Floral Hall
at Tunstall was the scene of numerous functions, the adjacent greenhouses
full of flowers and the backdrop for many wedding photographs. Today there
is not a building that has not been vandalised or in one case, burnt to the
ground
Bill
Carr
January
2003
