Page 42 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

from Coventry and I was pleased to buddy up with someone so soon. Phil
was an ex-police cadet who joined the police straight from school, so was a
little more used to the discipline and ways of the job. He was a naturally funny
bloke with a great sense of humour, which was as weird as mine, so we got
on famously from the start.

On the way to the accommodation I saw that the place was laid out like a
small town, complete with streets and road signs and markings. The reasons
for this would become apparent in later weeks.

On arrival at the accommodation block, it was one of the Word War II type
buildings I mentioned earlier. I joked with Phil about the ‘Great Escape’ we
might make, only to hear the duty squad officer shout “Silence in the ranks!”
I told myself it was all character-building stuff.

The accommodation comprised rows of long buildings with ten rooms either
side of a corridor that ran the length of the building. Each room was about 10
by 12-foot square, with a single bed and a small sink. The rooms were heated
(poorly) by one large water pipe that passed the full length of the building.
The twenty male occupants would have to share two showers, two baths and
four toilets. As these were situated near the end of the block, near to the
entrance door it would be a cold experience going to the loo, and even
colder taking a shower. The interior décor left a lot to be desired, in a time
warp dating back to the 1930’s with cold block walls and peeling paintwork.

Ryton on Dunsmore had been a police training centre since 1963 and it was
now 1980 and I was convinced it must have been the original paint work. My
first impressions were of a dark, damp and depressing place.

Page42

Figure 19 Accommodation Blocks at Ryton On Dunsmore Police Training College 1980