Eddie Moorhouse, now in his 80s, worked as a constable for Shropshire Police out of Whitchurch Police Station from 1959 to around 1966.

Now living in Ellesmere, Eddie looks back fondly at his time as a constable in the town and even still has his old police helmet.

“It was strange really. At the time I had been in the police for around three years and I was posted to Whitchurch. Because I’m from there and Sheila, my wife, worked at the Polish hospital in Penley, it was quite lucky.

“I came out of the RAF in 1957 and joined the police in 1959, before that I’d worked on farms. I was planning for the future, pensions and things like that.

“I spent five years in the RAF, so it was one uniform to another. I knew everybody in Whitchurch – went to grammar school and played rugby there, so I knew a lot of people.

“Never had any problems in the town, I was 6’ 2”, so good for a policeman!”

Eddie worked out of Whitchurch for around seven years, before moving onto St Georges and then Motor Patrol in Wellington.

The policing team in Whitchurch during this time consisted of an inspector, two sergeants, a detective officer and seven to eight constables.

“Generally as I recollect, the police were quite popular. We used to organise an annual ball and sit-down dinner,” said Eddie. “It was a different world entirely. Policing then and policing now, you couldn’t compare them.

“Things like night patrol would have two policemen, one on patrol and one on the telephone. No mobile phones then, once you were out on the beat there was no contact whatsoever.”

During his time in the police, Whitchurch was subject to two very high profile incidents including criminals using thermic lances to break into the Natwest bank and another occasion when the Cheshire Farmers’ depot was struck by dynamite.

For criminals who did get caught in Whitchurch, the police station was not an inviting place.

“It was a miserable cell, very dark,” recalled Eddie. “I wouldn’t recommend a night.”

For police back then, most patrols were done on foot or by bicycle, with very few constables having cars: “There were no vehicles, all bicycles, added Eddie. “And it was a big beat.

“It went down to the Cheshire Border at Grindley Brook, towards Nantwich and half way towards Shrewsbury.

“I remember one wet November evening, cycling to Prees in the pouring rain for a firearms check, thinking ‘what am I doing here?’ It was a completely different world it really was. We were all ex-servicemen – probably one reason why it was so difficult to get a promotion.

“I was very lucky to get sargeant when I did. I enjoyed it overall though.”