POLICE WORLD
Vol 59 No. 4, 2014
12
Article
IPA in Gibraltar
Carolyn Williamson had a holiday in Gibraltar, during which she made good use of her IPA contacts. She
has met some officers from Gibraltar several times over recent years, when they come over for the Police
Federation of England and Wales conference and as 95% of the force are apparantly IPA members, there is a
good connection!
S
o, with IPA contacts, and spurred on
by the Channel 5 series “Britain in the
Sun”, the decision to head to Gibraltar
was made.
The first use of contacts was when she was
looking to book the holiday, and suspected that
the hotels being offered by British Airways were
actually in Spain. An email from IPA Gibraltar
member Henry Bautista resolved the issue as he
confirmed her suspicions - together with a list of
hotels that are in Gibraltar.
Another Henry, Henry Sacramento – Vice
President and force welfare officer – promised to
meet her at the airport and all was set. However,
the outward journey was not without incident,
resulting in a very much delayed arrival. There
was initially a delay of about an hour at Heathrow,
as the aircraft had developed a fault with the
controls for its reverse thrust mechanism, and
as the runway at Gibraltar is extremely short, this
facility is essential.
On arrival in Gibraltar, around 5 pm instead of
the expected midday, Carolyn was met by two
uniformed police officers, who explained that
Henry S was off sick, and Henry B was unable to
make it, so had arranged for them to do the job.
As they were in a marked police carrier it caused
a bit of consternation at the hotel initially!
On the Thursday Henry S took Carolyn on a
personal tour of the Rock
and its various tourist
spots, and as he has lived
there all his life he made
an excellent tour guide.
Gibraltar has a lot of history
behind it, from pre-historic
times to the present. The
trip ended at the IPA Club
in the town centre, where
Carolyn had lunch with Sgt
Ryan Quigley – one of the
‘stars’ of “Britain in the
Sun” - and presented a
Section UK pennant to Henry
Sacramento - together with
centenary pins to all 3 hosts.
The ‘Henrys’ had also arranged an appointment
with the Commissioner of Police, Eddie Yome, so
that Carolyn could tell him about the International
Association of Women Police conference that
she is helping to organise in Cardiff next year. He
agreed that two delegates should attend, and
even nominated one of them, Anna Jones, there
and then. Carolyn presented the Commissioner
with a Welsh slate cheeseboard and an IPA
centenary pin.
Before she left, Carolyn was able to meet up
with Anna, another IPA member, and they had a
good natter over dinner. She is looking forward to
renewing the contact in Cardiff next year.
Carolyn can recommend the hospitality of our
Gibraltar colleagues, and said, “
The IPA Club is
certainly worth a visit.”
Lunch at the Club
In July, Simon Payne from 11 Region in Sussex also visited Gibraltar
with his wife - he was met by the Vice President of Section Gibraltor,
Henry Scaramento.
After a tour of the Rock, taking in the siege tunnels, Simon and his wife
Sue were taken for lunch at the IPA club.
Henry Sasramento
receives a plaque
Sue and Simon Payne in the siege tunnels
Henry Bautista, Carolyn Williamson and Eddie Yome
Henry Bautista, Carolyn Williamson, Ryan Quigley
and Henry Sacremento
