"My first memory of Epperstone is on 23rd August 1971 as Police Cadet 111 arriving , as you have put it, to be ‘induced’. Dennis Smith, at the time a sergeant, put the fear of God into everyone for those first three weeks. After a few months I was posted to Epperstone Manor in Traffic & General and Accident Stats and remained for about a year or so. What a place it was – to work in a rural setting when all you heard was birds and Epperstone church clock chime every quarter hour (there were dogs barking as the kennels were there at the time) It was a lovely place to work and I managed to skive off on walks up the lanes to take the post to the then village Post Office up Chapel Lane. It was actually an asbestos sheeted garage at the side of a house and remained there for some years before it closed and moved to its present site on Main Street.

One of the happy memories were the scones that Mrs ‘B’ (Mrs Bartlett) made for mid-morning break. The food there was very good but it took nearly all your meal break to queue for your dinner and then you had two minutes left to bolt it all down. If you remember the serving hatch had room for one at a time basis so if the Training School had a lot of courses the queue would out of the door (the main entrance door!!!)

The swimming pool was used frequently in those days for life-saving training and even in the height of summer it was bloody freezing. I remember going in one April whilst on a driving course as a dare. Sharing the experience was Pete Mee and Alan Chatwin and none of us stayed in for very long!! Those who knew Peter Mee knew those experiences did not bother him too much and I remember him being the last one out that day. "