PW_4_2018

IPA News

Munster IPA Recruitment 2018 Martin Turner , BTP Branch

As part of this commitment and to try and work out how we can replicate their ideas, I visited a Police Academy in Lille, France, last year. Building on my Lille trip, Philipp arranged a similar event in the beautiful city of Munster. He invited friends and colleagues from European countries to visit Munster and assist in running a recruitment stand at the local university.

At the university we helped Philipp and Walter set up their stand, next to the two Police Unions. It was impressive to see the banners, leaflets and items for sale available on their stall. Something we really need to improve in the UK. We joined Philipp as he delivered a welcome speech to 170 student police officers. My thanks to Philipp and IPA Munster for their exceptional hospitality and generosity. The event further inspired me to consider how section UK can access new officers at source. With over 43 different police forces in England and Wales alone, it is difficult to replicate meeting so many new officers at once. All ideas are very much welcome – please do look out for the impending member survey so we can gauge your thoughts and opinions.

I met German IPA Section member Philipp Kurz last year at Gimborn. Philipp is the marketing board member for his local branch and is also on the National Board in Germany. As you may know, I lead a Young Members Forum to gather ideas to improve the recruitment and retention of ‘young’ members.

Meeting New York Members Chris Chamberlin In March I met a group of IPA members and their wives from New York at Grange Tower Bridge Hotel. This was the first time I had met up with any visitors on my own and I was a bit apprehensive about meeting them. We met at the hotel bar, where their President Mike Files and Treasurer Pete Falcetta introduced me to the group. Any apprehension I had was soon gone; it seemed that we had known each other for years. A very nice afternoon and evening was well spent with many laughs and stories regarding policing from either side of the pond. It was a real privilege and a great experience for me to meet them all. In all, I spent about two and half hours with them over a few pints. As I was about to leave, Mike presented me with a baseball cap and badges from Suffolk County, which is part of their Region. I did find this a bit embarrassing as I had not taken anything for them. They asked me to pass on their thanks to Bob McCormack for all his work in arranging their time in London and the additional problems regarding the change of hotel at the last minute. They also asked me to give Bob a few goodies. On leaving I kissed all of the ladies on the hand and the comment from Pete was “He’s a real copper alright”.

Life’s a lottery Steve Bretherton

When, as a member of the IPA lottery, I received an e-mail from IPA HQ regarding applications for Study Awards my thoughts turned to beer, obviously. Let me explain. Subscribers to the national IPA lottery are encouraged to submit applications for study awards funded from the profits of the lottery. Previous successful applicants have put their awards towards language courses, professional qualifications and so on. I have been a member of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) for many years and have organised several IPA trips to breweries, including a trip to Langtons micro-brewery in Leicestershire. It was the enthusiasm of the owner/brewer on this trip that sparked my interest in home brewing. I decided that I wanted to learn how to brew beer from scratch using grain rather than malt extracts. An internet search found the Brew School, in Bakewell. Brew School is dedicated to teaching the ancient art of grain beer brewing and offers a range of courses from Craft Beer Brewing to Practical Commercial Brewing. On the day of the course, 20 of us gathered at the Brew School and, after a round of introductions, our tutor, Marvyn White, set about explaining and demonstrating the process of producing craft beer. Starting with a discussion of the various malts available and their particular characteristics Marvyn took us through the stages of mashing, sparging and fermenting, showing us each step. While producing a 20 litre batch of pale ale, he explained the importance of getting the pH, temperature and specific gravity right. We finished off the day with some tastings of bottled beer from the Thornbridge Brewery and were each given a bottle of the beer Marvyn brewed on the previous course to take home. So for me the IPA lottery is a win-win. I’ve been fortunate enough to win a first prize and several second and third prizes over the past four years of being a member of the lottery. And now courtesy of a lottery study award I’ve acquired the knowledge and confidence to have a go at brewing my own all grain craft beer And for those who might be wondering – yes, I still have the bottle of beer I was given at the end of the course.

POLICE WORLD Vol 63 No. 4, 2018

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