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November 7th 1966 is the day I joined The Metropolitan Police Force, wrote Brian Mills. I set off from my home in Ewell, Surrey to travel to Peel House near Victoria, London. Peel House is an old Victorian building in Regency Street used as a training school for The Metropolitan Police. The decor was pretty stark with tiled walls, cream paint on the untiled parts and dark brown woodwork. It was like going back to school.
I can't recall exactly what we did that morning, but there was some formal paperwork and talks by various instructors who held the rank of either Inspector or Station Sergeant. Anyway, we stayed there till after lunch.
We then boarded a coach and all went to St. Thomas' Hospital for a chest X-ray. We all were given the all clear and made our way to Great Scotland Yard (the original) just off Whitehall where we were sworn in as Constables. By this time it was late afternoon and we headed out of Town in the rush hour traffic towards Hendon Training School where we were to spend the next twelve weeks
I've gone on a little bit about 'WE', just to clarify things, for there were about thirty of us all in the same boat. There was a broad mixture of ages ranging from nineteen to about thirty five, the two oldest members of the class had some police experience, one having transferred from Glasgow City Police and the other having been a police officer in Australia.
We came from all parts of the UK and that evening most of us went to the sports club within the establishment where we had a few drinks and got to know each other a little better -- after all we were going to be working and living together for quite some time.
Well! I was going to confine things to the first day but thought I might continue for a little while longer. It was an early start the following morning, the showers were lukewarm but at least breakfast was hot, if a little greasy.
Things have changed now but discipline was the order of the day and each separate class of recruits had to parade in order of seniority: it was probably a bit like being in the army, i.e. polished shoes, creases in trousers and neatly trimmed hair.
This was the day when we would be fitted out with our uniforms. We all made our way to the stores and this is where the fun started, as you can imagine we were all shapes and sizes, but most of us were fairly tall. The minimum height for joining was 5 foot 10 inches in these days.
Well it is just as well that we had a sense of humour. We were given trousers, tunics, shirts and coats, sized according to your height. I must say that I did not fair too badly, the only problem being the trousers, the waistband of which came up to my armpits. The storeman tried to convince me that they were okay but eventually took pity on me and sorted out a pair that whilst fitted reasonably well, were by no means perfect.
The laughter continued for quite a while, most people managed to get fitted with tunics without too much bother although there seemed to be a few who had short arms according to the storekeeper.
Trousers and uniform helmets appeared to be the most difficult things to fit, and some had to be measured for trousers. 1 think the most amusing part of this episode was to see some of the group wearing their newly issued helmets -- it's just as well they had ears or their faces would have completely disappeared. I think the expression 'coal scuttle' was used a number of times.
Well everyone got fitted out eventually and we looked a smart bunch despite the efforts of the chaps in the stores.
Now the serious part will start.
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