Page 7 - police world Edition 3 2013

A Word from the President
Police World Vol 55 No.2 2010
stock. VP Ronnie Dukes is currently reviewing
our operation and will have benefitted from the
insights provided by Johanna.
While not a presentation as such, Mark Faunt
proudly showed off Stan the Panda. Stan is a
Morris Minor of some vintage that has been
decked out in Heartbeat era police livery. Mark
had driven Stan down from 3 Region for its first
official outing. He, Bill Lloyd and I will be taking
Stan amongst other places to the World Police
and Fire Games at Belfast in August and the
National Police Memorial Day in September at
Cardiff. Ultimately the three of us with a back up
crew will take Stan to the USA in May 2015. We
will then drive through America from coast to
coast raising funds for the National Police
Memorial Day charity that also happens to be
Section UK’s nominated charity.
Late Night: With the weekend coming to a close
it would be remiss not to mention a few people.
To David Read thank you for sharing your
wisdom with us during the business meeting
and thanks to you and Sue for sharing your time
with all of us over the weekend. It was a delight
to have you back amongst us.
We should also reflect upon all of the hard work
undertaken by the event organisers.
While most of us simply turn up and
hopefully enjoy all aspects of the
weekend, there is very little respite for
those who make it all happen. Of course
their commitment starts at least a year in
advance and does not end until the last
guest leaves. And for Andy Mundy the
Region Treasurer, it will go on for some
weeks after until all accounts are settled
and the books balanced. So to the organising
committee and helpers - Tessa Adams, Ian
Tomlinson, Andy Mundy, Val Mearns, Graham
Bulford, Mike Vince, Robert Peattie, Colin and
Maria Gameson and others whom I may have
neglected to mention, you all have our sincere
thanks for what appeared a seamless and very
enjoyable weekend at a stunning location.
7
As is tradition the awards of Honorary Life
Membership are presented at the final gala
dinner. The winners are selected by the NEC
from the list of Region nominations. This year
there was something of a departure when Tom
Crozier announced that one of the 2012 –
2013 awards had already been presented.
That particular award had been made to Jimmy
Green a member from Northumbria branch. In
late November 2012 Tom received a
nomination from branch Chair Allan Young
extolling Jimmy’s contribution to his branch over
many years.
Very shortly after this Allan again contacted
Tom to advise that Jimmy had been admitted to
hospital (see article in Edition 1, 2013). A
decision was made to award Jimmy a Honorary
Life Membership immediately, and this was
presented to Jimmy by Allan on behalf of the
President. Sadly Jimmy died a few days later.
Befitting the recipient of the highest accolade
that this Association can bestow, members and
guests at the gala dinner stood in tribute to
Jimmy according him a standing ovation.
The other recipients of Honorary Life
Memberships were Bill Lloyd, 3 Region
Treasurer and Andy Wright, Chair of 1 Region.
Bill Lloyd joined IPA in 1992 as one of the so
called Rochdale Volunteers when the new
Rochdale branch was formed. He was active
from the outset and became branch Secretary
in 1995. In 2005 he moved to Bolton and took
over as Chair of the branch, as well as inheriting
responsibility for overseeing the Gary Waine
Tour Award at Region level.
More recently he has acted as support driver on
the Motorcycle Group tour of Morocco and is
one of the mainstays behind the ‘Stan the
Panda’ initiative that will take him on the charity
drive across the USA in 2015.
Bill has only been a regular at National Council
for the last five or six years, but has made a
significant impact. It was Bill who put forward
the very sensible proposal that did away with
the need for members’ money to be tied up for
three years when a branch closed. He was also
a strong advocate for a fixed levy to Regions that
became a reality in 2011. As a Treasurer these
were issues close to Bill’s heart, but more than
that they are measures that benefit all of our
members. Again at this year’s NCM he was
active in the debates and it was his amendment
to the motion on tenure that carried the day.
Andy Wright was recently elected Chair of 1
Region having served as Secretary for the past
seven years. His contribution to his branch and
Region over very many years is considerable. He
has actively participated in the organisation of
five friendship breaks and has been the
principal organiser in four of those five events.
He is currently organising another friendship
break based at Stirling in the summer of 2014.
In total Andy and his fellow organisers have
catered for close on 1,000 IPA members, mostly
from abroad. Those attending Andy’s friendship
breaks invariably depart these shores not just
with fond memories of the United Kingdom, but
with a great respect for IPA UK. So well
organised are these events that many foreign
colleagues are regular repeat visitors. Andy has
been and continues to be a great salesman for
Section UK. Aside from all his commitments
with friendship breaks, Andy is also part of a
small team who organise the various golf events
that are very popular in Scotland, including the
annual competition against 2 Region Northern
Ireland. If that was not enough he is now
embarking upon another venture and is looking
to establish a UK wide network to promote
walking and hillwalking that he hopes will lead
to the formation of a Special Interest Group.
Bill Lloyd and Tom Crozier Yvonne Taylor, Tom Crozierand Andy Gregory
Ian Tomlinson and Tessa Adams
Andy and Shirley Wright
Stan the Panda, Dave Taylor, Mark Faunt and Bill Lloyd National
Awards