# Police Training College. Part I.



## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

A week after pledging my allegiance to the Queen and signing my articles of employment on 8th March, 1965... a day that will be with me for the rest of my life... I was standing on the platform at the Ipswich Railway Station with my suitcase by my feet beside me. Dickie Palmer walked towards me, clutching his suitcase in his right hand. I put out my right hand to him, and he put down his case to shake mine.
"Here we go, Dickie-Boy," I told him. We both laughed and shook our heads. "Einsham Hall awaits us. I wonder what it will be like," I mused.
"A great big mansion in the Oxfordshire countryside," he reminded me. "With Nissan huts to sleep in, off to one side. And we'll be in the Nissan huts, as only the second and third month probationers have the privilege of sleeping in the bedrooms of the mansion."
"I'd rather be in a Nissan hut, anyway, and not sharing quarters with the instructors." I looked at him for a moment. "We'll see enough of them... square-bashing on the parade ground as it is."
Our train pulled in and we stepped on board, taking our seats each side of one of the tables. They had only just started introducing these open carriages from the enclosed compartment trains with a separate corridor. These open carriages were far more friendly.
We sat chatting away for half an hour until the train pulled into Colchester Railway Station. Mixed with the other passengers that boarded were several guys with short-back-and-sides hairstyles, as we had also been instructed to have. And it was the same again when the train stopped at Chelmsford Railway Station... 'the-short-back-and-sides-brigade' seemed to be every where.
By the time the train arrived at Liverpool Street Station, it seemed to be crowded with potential customers for the Number Five Police Training College at Einsham Hall... twelve miles the other side of Oxford. We all piled out on to the platform and made our way down the escalators to the platforms of the underground station.
We now began to realize what was going on, and conversation sprung up between complete strangers. Like us, they were all part of the new induction to the Police Training College, and we all had to travel by train, as first month probationers weren't allowed to use their own motor vehicles to travel to the college... only second and third month students... because the lack of parking space
After crossing London on the underground, we all met up with an even larger crowd at Paddington Railway Station, where we boarded our final train to Oxford. The coaches were the older type, with separate enclosed compartments, so me and Dickie Palmer huddled into the seats with the guys who'd joined the first train at Colchester. We'd all introduced ourselves earlier, so it was only natural for us to travel together.
When we arrived at the Oxford Railway Station the place was absolutely freezing. There was still ice at the corners of the roads, and there was snow on some of the roofs. A fleet of elderly coaches awaited us, as seen in old movies at the cinema of the fifties. Almost reluctantly, we all piled in the waiting line of vehicles, taking our places on the hard leather seats, after slotting our luggage into the overhead racks. We now saw the reason for the case-size restriction that we'd been given.
After trundling through the open Oxfordshire countryside in the cramped, stuffy coach... with the windows all steamed up with condensation... the driver turned left through a set of rather impressive cast-iron gates, then headed down a very long drive enclosed by overhanging trees on both sides.
It was just approaching dusk when the coaches pulled up in line-abreast in front of an impressive... if not a little oppressive... mansion that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Count Dracula movie. We were shown to our billets in our Nissan huts, then instructed to present ourselves at the entrance of the two very impressive dining rooms.
All standing together, chattering away in our brand new police uniforms in the lobby of the dining rooms on the first floor, we were eventually separated into two mess-groups... to the left was the Gold Dining Room, and to the right the Red Dining Room. Thankfully, both me and Dickie Palmer were messing together in the Red Dining Room, and quickly bagged two adjoining chairs so we could sit together during our evening meal.
The place was grand enough, with sumptuous oak panelling and silk wall-coverings. There were large portraits and fading paintings on the walls, and thick-piled carpet covered most of the floor area. But the food! It wouldn't have been out of place at the army barracks' canteen at Colchester. In fact, I think that the powdered egg... scrambled into a tasteless mush... was left over from The Second World War. Talk about back to basic! It wasn't fit enough to feed a dog! To be continued. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## david freeman (Jan 26, 2006)

how come the tin blue line uniform, and then a MN desperado which is I assume you became, or was it the gray funnel line with black boot topping???
It reminds me of a incident at sea in which a fellow J/E was a 'special' and I assume unknown to himself, had been given a pier-head jump for both his connections and observational characteristics.


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For david freeman.*

G'day, David, it's good to hear from you. If you read many of my posts on the Shipsnostalgia website, or care to go to the Books Forum to download the Kindle codes for the nine books that I have had published, you will get the true and full story. I bought my first ship a week after turning eighteen years old with three mates... the 42 foot Whitstable ouster smack, Blue Bell. There was little money around, so things were very tight in the early sixties. One by one, they wanted their money out of the boat to fund other projects, which would take quite some paying back... but I did it!
During our first regatta dance of the Orwell Yacht Club, after we'd been placed second in the August regatta race... due to a very advantaged handicap... I met up with my future wife, Kay. Just after reaching nineteen, I realised that we'd become serious, so I needed a job that I could go to a bank manager and ask for a mortgage. I decided to join the Ipswich Police Force, and as my earlier post explains, on 8th March, 1965, I said my oath to the Queen and signed the articles of employment.
This didn't cool my interest in ships, as in 1967 I bought my second ship, the 72 foot Breton gaff yawl, Biche. Following four years rebuilding her from top to bottom, and after leaving the police force, I floated her out of the dock near Bourne Bridge, Ipswich, at Fox's Boatyard in August, 1971, and was the first private person to charter a tall ship out of Ipswich Wet Dock. And that was the start of the rest of my life, as published in all my books in detail. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## ccurtis1 (Aug 16, 2007)

The start, I hope, of another cracking saga. Enjoyed this first instalment.


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For ccurtis 1.*

G'day, ccurtis 1., it's good to hear from you, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the first instalment of my short story about my experiences at Einsham Hall, the Number Five Police Training College in Oxfordshire. It was one crazy experience for all those of us who attended this college... back in the mid sixties. It was in the early days of the Beatles... and we had to have short-back-and-sides, straight out of our father's generation. 
It was still another four years before Woodstock! While they were wearing flowers in their hair in San Francisco, we were wearing blue. A third of the new intake had just completed ten years service in the armed forces, and were at a loss what to do next. The police force was their obvious choice.
I was one of the youngest of the new intake, as I'd only just turned nineteen. I still wanted to see the world before they blew it up... following on from the Bay of Pigs in 1961... the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962... and President Kennedy being assassinated in 1963. The world... as we knew it... was really falling to pieces all around us.
This short story is of a complete rookie, facing the reality of a very strict police training academy, some 265 miles from home... with all its brutality as if it was an army training camp... as that was all most of the instructors understood. They were trying to push us as far as they could with their beasting to weed out all those who might easily lose their temper in a very trying situation. They soon learned to leave me alone, as I had faced such harassment when I attended Tower Ramparts... the toughest secondary school in Ipswich.
Well, Curtis 1. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story, as I did in reminiscenting it. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

You haven't wasted any time getting back into the swing of things, have you, Dick?(Scribe)

Taff


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For tsell.*

G'day, Taff, it's good to hear from you... how are you making out? Once I got over the jet-lag of flying 15,000 miles on three planes in such a short space of time, I got stuck into the work. It's good to get in touch with so many old friends again and chew the fat. 
I'm about to start writing the second part of the 'Police Training College', and hope it brings back old memories for you... or any other readers out there... of the Merchant Navy Training College, or one of the many types of military training college. I think that this is one of the many things that... in some way... we have all been involved with. For others it may have been the Fire Brigade Training College, or even a Paramedical training college. 
Yesterday, I started writing my tenth book, 'Return to Samoa : Mariana's Inauguration.' At seventy one, this might be my last book. As a special concession, my literary agent is publishing this book for me, before he, himself, retires. If I do get the inspiration to write another book after that, I'll have to speak very nicely to Kimberley to act as my literary agent, as well as my editor. All the best to you, Roy, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## ccurtis1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Was that police training academy solely for the Met and the south east of England, or were the intake from other regions of England? There seemed to be an awful lot of students.


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## ChasH (May 23, 2014)

*early life*



Cpt Dick Brooks said:


> G'day, Taff, it's good to hear from you... how are you making out? Once I got over the jet-lag of flying 15,000 miles on three planes in such a short space of time, I got stuck into the work. It's good to get in touch with so many old friends again and chew the fat.
> I'm about to start writing the second part of the 'Police Training College', and hope it brings back old memories for you... or any other readers out there... of the Merchant Navy Training College, or one of the many types of military training college. I think that this is one of the many things that... in some way... we have all been involved with. For others it may have been the Fire Brigade Training College, or even a Paramedical training college.
> Yesterday, I started writing my tenth book, 'Return to Samoa : Mariana's Inauguration.' At seventy one, this might be my last book. As a special concession, my literary agent is publishing this book for me, before he, himself, retires. If I do get the inspiration to write another book after that, I'll have to speak very nicely to Kimberley to act as my literary agent, as well as my editor. All the best to you, Roy, Cpt Dick Brooks.


Hi Cpt great reading, you have seem to done more in your early life than most people in there entire life, keep it coming, hope you and family are well. chasH


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For ccurtis1.*

G'day, Curtis 1., another day begins. When I attended Einsham Hall, Number Five Police Training College in March, 1965, the intake was from The City of London Police, Norfolk, East and West Suffolk, Ipswich and Essex Police Forces, and Cambridge and Buckinghamshire Police Forces. Later, in June, 1967, East and West Suffolk, along with the Ipswich Police Force, amalgamated to form the Suffolk Constabulary. Much later... after I'd left the force... they took over the Naval Training Base at Shotley... H.M.S. Ganges as their training college. This happened half a lifetime ago, and I have no idea where the Suffolk Constabulary have their training college now. I hope this information helps with your enquiry. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For ChasH.*

G'day, ChasH, it's good to hear from you, and I'm glad that you enjoyed my short story on my attendance at Einsham Hall, Number Five Police Training College, in Oxfordshire, during the spring and early summer of 1965. I served six years as a police officer with the Ipswich Police Force and with the Suffolk Constabulary once they amalgamated with the East and West Suffolk Police Forces in 1967. I left the force after completing the four years of rebuilding my second ship, Biche, in 1971, and was the first private person to charter a tall ship out of the Ipswich Wet Dock.
I was captain of my own ships for 26 years... all over the world. I took my third ship... Dauntless Star... out to the Persian Gulf in 1975, then sold her to an Arab shipping company with a two year contract to serve as her captain. After the completion of my contract, I returned to the U.K. and bought the 189 foot Ross Resolution, of 1,000 tons displacement. After converting her to a dive support ship and full salvage vessel, I took her on a twelve year voyage around the world.
In 1987, I was shipwrecked in the Coral Sea, with only my young Samoan wife, Mariana, on board and baby son, then spent three years castaway... two years, one month and seventeen days alone. Without suitable food on board to wean a baby, I arranged a lift to Cairns for Mariana and baby Robbie, where she made her way to Mackay and found employment as a diver with a Scottish diving company, collecting tropic, fish on the Great Barrier Reef to sell to aquariums all over the world. Once she had earned enough money, she flew to Samoa to await for me to come and collect her and our children and fly them all to England... which I did in 1990.
I have written and had published nine books of my true sea adventures... all over the world. If you would like to read any of them, go to the Books Forum at the bottom of the list for the Kindle code for each book. They are all published by Amazon on their Kindle website. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## jaguar1robert (May 7, 2012)

I was at Eynsham Hall in 1963 after leaving the Royal Navy. The drill sergeants name was Sgt Vincent and the little bastard who taught unarmed combat and PT was Sgt Flint. Great memories, and yes the food was horrible!


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For jaguar1robert.*

G'day, jaguar1robert, it's good to hear from you. I tried to send you a post in reply to yours, but it was blocked from being sent. I'll try again tomorrow. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For jaguar1robert.*

G'day, jaguar1robert, it's good to hear from you, and this time let's hope that my post is received. It's good to get in contact with another Eynsham Hall police probationers, be it that I was two years behind you... some 52 years ago. Things don't seem they'd changed much, from your description. It was so long ago, but is still influential in my present life... even though I only served for six years.
I bought my first ship a week after I turned eighteen, and used her in police operations during the time that I served in the Ipswich Police Force, then after 1967... following the amalgamation between East and West Suffolk and the Ipswich Police force into the Suffolk Constabulary. 
I bought my second ship in 1967, when I was 21 years old. She was the 72 foot, gaff-rigged French Thonier, Biche, and I spent four years rebuilding her while also working my beat, before leaving the force in 1971... the first private person to charter a tall ship out of Ipswich Dock up until that date.
I used to see my old Eynsham Hall oppo... Dickie Palmer... occasionally in town, but not recently. The numbers visible are dwindling away fast. They even stopped holding the annual get-together of the old Ipswich Police Force because too many faces were disappearing annually.
In 1995, I saw on a television game-show an old face from the past. He was introduced as just retiring after 30 years of service in the Essex Constabulary. He was in my class, and we used to refer to these Essex probationers as 'The Essex Mounted Alsatian Branch' because their height restriction was only 5 feet 8 inches tall. His name was Harcourt, and he is mentioned in Part III on next Sundays posting.
A tall, middle-aged guy and his teenage son moved into the flat next door to me, some fifteen years ago. I knocked on his door and welcomed him to our block of flats, and he invited me in for a cup of coffee. About ten minutes into our chat, I asked him if he was ex-job... and he was flabbergasted for a moment, before admitting that he was. "How did you know?" he asked me. "Once a copper, always a copper," I told him. We both laughed together, and he fetched his photograph album so we could go over old memories and chew the fat together about Eynsham Hall.
There is much still with me from my three months training as a police probationers at Eynsham Hall, especially in the way that I treated officials while captain of my own ships throughout the world. I always wore my white tropical captain's uniform when attending the Harbour Master's Office, Customs House and Immigration Office. If they had to wear uniform every day, they all appreciated it when you also complied to wear yours.
I've written and published nine books about my 26 years of sea adventures throughout the world, and if you go to the Books Forum, you can access the Kindle code for 'From Beat to Open Deck'. This publication also covers my six years of service with the Ipswich, and then the Suffolk Constabulary from March, 1965, until January, 1971. I hope you enjoy the read. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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