Coventry Police

It was a mix from what I recall, not just a comms centre, but also, and unsurprisingly, a law enforcement centre. I have seen one of the main former civil defence telephone nodes where it was purportedly designed to work after the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) created by a nuclear blast from the Cold War. Things will have changed a lot since then with nuclear explosions having far greater damage capability. I'm probably going back to early 90's, because the new blue light comms system to be introduced TETRA, was the talk of the day. There is a lot we may never know about the post war and Cold War periods, and while I know it's not local, Bletchley Park, the home of Station 'X' and the Enigma decoding computer/machine, for those interested, is worth a visit. The Cold War monitoring buildings at Bletchley Park have been restored, somewhere I really need to see, when time permits.

Spent a month at Bletchley Park in the early 70s on a telecoms training course when a large part of it was a Home Counties Regional Training Centre for the GPO engineering, postal, telegraph, drawing office and clerical staff. Facilities were basic with war time buildings used for training and dormitories with a weekly visit to the on site cinema. Back then there were areas that were still off limits.

What is the world coming to? Demolishing it? How dare they. They've got no right. I remember its being built. We had just moved to Canley Road, around the corner, in the mid-sixties, and I remember them starting building work, so I'm certain the opening was a few years after 1957. I remember thinking it took them ages to build it. In those days of zero 'elf 'n safety, a building site was open, not fenced off with the Fort Knox mentality that persists nowadays. So, anyone could walk into the site, especially under cover of darkness. The story at the time was that handover was delayed because the toilet block had just been finished, but thieves broke in and stole some copper piping, taps, washbasins and all the lavatory pans. The police had no idea who the culprits were because they had nothing to go on. A final touch was the erection of two poles at the front, one either side of the A45 elevation, a blue illuminated sign atop each pole, with the word "POLICE" written vertically. (Yes, I know some people in Canley will be annoyed that they spelt the word polliss incorrectly, but it doesn't bother me as I'm not from the NE.) That was in the days when we had a visible police force. Officers would regularly patrol on the beat, and panda-cars were a frequent site in Canley Road, using the Riddings as a short cut into Earlsdon. It kept us on our toes and out of trouble - most of the time. Respekk.

Three words describe my interactions with the police: trust, respect, fear. A policeman used to cycle past our house in Wyken everyday when I was young. He became a friendly face whom I recognised and I could trust. I learned respect on realising a policeman had no option but to enforce the law when one stopped my father from giving me a crossbar lift when I was 5, telling my dad to fit a seat and later on telling me off for not fully dismounting my bicycle having crossed to the pavement 50 yards from home. My respect turned to fear when I was followed a few yards from my bumper returning home late one night. I assumed it was provocation by a 'boy racer', but after about a mile blue lights appeared. On stopping the officer said "Do you realise sir, you were doing 90mph?". I replied "You must have different equipment from me because I have set my cruise control to 60 mph, according to my satnav". This was in 2005 when satnav was both rare and expensive. He replied: "Well get it checked out then". Had he booked me I would have shown him my pass as prison chaplain and said "Now I might believe some of the stories the prisoners tell me about the police!" That is why I now fear the police.

"but thieves broke in and stole some copper piping, taps, washbasins and all the lavatory pans. The police had no idea who the culprits were because they had nothing to go on." Hilarious !! I was part of the Emergency Planning Committee based at the Shire Hall in Warwick during the 1980's. Underneath the Car Park in front of the said Hall is a complex made up of an old style Telephone Exchange, Dormitories, Offices and a Command Centre, to be used by both Military and Civilian organisations in the event of War. There were 2 entrances one in the basement of the Hall itself, and one through a large door in the adjoining storied Car Park. I refer to it in the past tense, but assume they will still be there ! Most, (if not all), Schools still have an Air Raid Siren fitted on their roofs, and each and every week a 'silent' test is carried out from local Police Stations, and once, back in the 1980's both in Warwickshire and Coventry City, the 'Tester' inadvertently pressed the 'live' button, which caused some panic !! Some Forumites might remember these events. There are also numerous small Bunkers in the Shire which were used by the ROC, (Royal Observer Corps.), until their disbandment. I visited many as part of my Duties during Exercises.

I would agree with Slim that Fletchamstead police station was built in the late 60's. I am reasonably sure that it was Little Park Street police station that opened in 1957, and I do know that Stoney Stanton Road police station opened in 1968 when it replaced the old one in Holmsdale Road. The architecture at Fletchamstead and Stoney Stanton Road were quite similar so I guess that they were built fairly closely together. I do remember the inadvertent 'live test' of the air raid sirens in the 80's because it woke my boss who lived somewhere in the Willenhall area, and he was moaning about it for days.

You could both very easily be right about the Fletch station being opened in the 1960's and little Park Street 1957, which I why I said "I understand it was opened in 1957....." That info was obtained from an elderly neighbour. I should probably have worded it different. However, I do fully appreciate your corrections.

I remember the newspaper report at the time (or some of it). The newspapers reckoned the students used a recorder (the musical instrument type) to play sounds down the phone that imitated call progress tones at the exchange and so fool the equipment to obtain free calls. Having said that, of course, one cannot always believe what one reads in the papers! As a boy, telephones were my hobby. I found out by experiment that using the STD codes you could dial along the route and only pay local call rates for a long distance call. Boys will be boys.

There wasn't a stain on his character Except where he'd sat in the mud. He'd got two gold teeth and a wart on his neck He could use as a back collar stud. Bernard Cribbins