Wigan Album

Ron. I bet he had quite a few shoes soled, and heeled. Did they get a footwear allowance, I believe at one time police officers' did, but I cannot remember.

Well,at least that job was better than walking the streets.

Albert, I remember my father, Tommy Bond, who was a policeman in Wigan Borough and (very briefly) in Lancashire County when they merged, getting a footwear allowance. He always bought his boots from a company in London who were named Pannett's (not sure about the spelling!)

Derek B. Your dad was serving when I was in the Wigan Borough. There was a Tommy, who had been a war reservist, together with Danny Lowe. Was that your dad?. I was on a different section to your dad. I transferred to Kent in July, 1964. Wouldn't have done, but the writing was on the wall for the termination of borough forces, and you didn't have a crystal ball to project the future course things would develop into. Enjoyed the rest of my police service in Kent. Retired May, 1988.

Albert, that was my dad. Another war reservist I remember was Bob Julian, who lived in the Whelley area. Do you remember another PC named Bert Derber who had moved to the Wigan Borough force from Stafford? He was a rookie under my dad's wing on the Beech Hill beat in the late forties.

Derek B. Can't recollect Bob Julian. Bert Derber rings a bell. Unless they were on your watch, you didn't come into contact with them all that often, and it is so long ago.

The Julian family lived on Wallace Lane, Whelley. Three brothers,Alfred, Robert and Frank. I don't know their father's name but it might have been Bob. Mrs Julian was a widow when I knew the family in the early fifties.