PW_2_2022

Article

Members Day Neil Hallam , Editor After so many cancelled events during 2020 and 2021, last year’s Members’ Day sneaked between the lockdowns for a long overdue meeting. M embers’ Day is an annual event, held on the weekend closest to our founder’s birthday (15th December). For some of our far flung members, this is a once a year opportunity to visit the Section UK headquarters at Arthur Troop House in Nottingham. Some aspects of Members’ Day follow a similar pattern each year. The Section UK Archive is opened, giving visitors a chance to look back on the way our association has developed since its formation in 1950. Our Section UK President always grabs the opportunity to present awards to a few members, who have gone the extra mile in keeping our Association a worthwhile organisation to join. In a world that says, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, we also get a free lunch. Those are the things we see most years at Members’ Day, but there is always lots more going on.

DCC Barber opens our quiet reflection room

This year, our highlight was a visit by Gary Craig, the founder of this year’s Section UK charity, The Thin Blue Line. Gary is a serving Police Officer, who set up The Thin Blue Line in 2012, after the murders of PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone. The charity specialises in providing mental health support to repair the damage caused by an increasingly difficult career choice. With Gary was Allan Walker, a retired Police Officer who now runs The Selkirk Distillery. Allan’s distillery has created a limited edition Thin Blue Line Gin, which was on sale at the event. £10 from every bottle goes directly to fund The Thin Blue Line’s important work. Our Section UK HQ sits within Nottinghamshire Police’s area, and we were delighted to host the Force’s Deputy Chief Constable for the day. DCC Rachel Barber had gone through almost an entire 30 year career without joining the IPA, and we are proud to say that her day with us resulted in her joining the Association. Taking note of the lessons learned through our support for The Thin Blue Line charity, the Section UK board recognised the need for a space within our HQ for quiet reflection. The upstairs lounge at Fox Road is being repurposed to serve this need, and DCC Barber performed a ceremony to dedicate the room to this purpose. Members’ Day has traditionally ended with everyone dining together at a local restaurant. Emergence of a new Coronavirus strain made us re-think this, and instead we ordered in a hot meal from a nearby deli. Enjoying a meal together in the Arthur Troop Conference Room seemed a fitting end to a fabulous day of friendship.

Gary Craig and Allan Walker introduce Thin Blue Line Gin

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POLICE WORLD Vol 67 No.2, 2022