Royal duty of a Shropshire lad in Welsh police
Memories came flooding back for Allan Caswell of Bayston Hill after reading our piece about how former Shropshire police officer Plen Evans was on security duty at Prince Charles' investiture 50 years ago.
Welsh-speaking Plen, a young officer serving at Ludlow, was among officers and Welsh Guardsmen lining the street near the entrance to Caernarfon Castle.
Allan says: "It immediately took me back to when I was also there as a police officer."
Despite being a Shropshire lad he joined Denbighshire Constabulary at the age of 22 in 1966, and began training.
"I was one of 38 on the course and the only Englishman with no knowledge of the Welsh language."
Denbighshire became part of North Wales police in 1967 and in 1969 Allan, by now married, was a village bobby in Brymbo, near Wrexham.
"I remember a telephone call came from the duty Inspector at Wrexham informing me that I was being sent to Caernarvon (this anglicised spelling, correct at the time, was changed to Caernarfon in 1974) for three days as part of the policing team for the investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales.
"I would add that although I had by this time learnt some Welsh phrases I could not converse in the language and in the area around Caernarvon Welsh was the first language of a large number of people.
"In the 1960s Welsh nationalism was very active with the Welsh Language Society promoting the speaking of the language and the more militant so-called Welsh nationalists were setting off explosive devices at strategic points throughout Wales.
"We were therefore on a fairly high state of alert. One incident on the day was an attempt to place an explosive device on the railway line at Abergele ahead of the royal train, but as far as I can recall this went off prematurely resulting in the death of the persons responsible.
"I was billeted at a house in Llanberis and together with three other colleagues worked two nights manning a temporary police station in a local school ready to respond to any problems or occurrences.
"During the night we were encouraged to walk around the town in our uniform but without helmets and wearing a 'civvy' jacket. This was half uniform and half civilian clothing and it became known as 'Mid-Wales CID.'
"After our night shift finished we were also encouraged to stay on for a few hours and walk around Caernarvon as 'Mid-Wales CID' as extra security before returning to Llanberis for much earned rest.
"By coincidence I am also a friend of Plen Evans."
