This section of our website is devoted to those of us who are Grandparents. We would like to encourage you to send us photos of your grandchildren, preferably with you in them, and tell us a little about them.
If your grandchildren are like mine they love to hear stories about when their "Papa" was a policemen! One of the reasons for creating this website is to provide all of us with an opportunity to write our life stories so our memories can be passed on to future generations. We have had dozens of colleagues write articles for our "Then and Now" column, and we encourage everyone to do so, especially if you have grandchildren.
We have had so many colleagues who have led fascinating lives but their stories will disappear unless someone writes them down. In some cases we have worked with the families of those police officers who have passed on; great characters such as "Chief" Oliver Trott, "Syke" Smith, Vic Richmond, Johnny Wlliams, Sean Sheehan, and even as far back as our first ever detective, Charles Edward "D.O" Simons. Their stories can be found in our Hall of Fame.
For those colleagues who are no longer with us we would also encourage their families to send photos of our former officers' grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren. We look forward to hearing from you
When we started this column we may have posted photos with the latest at the bottom of the column, but from now on (July 2020) we will posted them with the latest received at the top of the page.
25th July 2020
John Headey just wrote to us after having his two grandchildren staying with them. John says, “ We have had our exhausting but delightful Grandchildren with us for a week or so. I had forgotten what a relief it is when they finally go to sleep! We hand them back on Monday and plan a couple of nights in a nice Hotel to recover. A few table service pints are in order !
Wylie is now 10 and has been making himself useful doing a little painting for me, wearing my T shirt!
Wylie hard at work!
Here is Teddy about to attack her gifts on her 5th Birthday. She’s a real character, independent and entertaining, frequently has me in hysterics
Teddy Rose on her 5th birthday
I wonder where this Pandemic is going to take us? Infection numbers seem to be on the rise again where lockdown has been eased. The latest numbers from the US are pretty scary. The prospect of a British winter alongside Covid-19 is not something to look forward to, especially for we pensioners. Do you have a spare bedroom for a few months? We are very good at cleaning up after ourselves !
Editors notes - We do indeed have a spare bedroom but it’s in regular use because our own 5 grandchildren, all of whom live here in Bermuda, take every opportunity to stay with us, and yes we know what it is when they finally go off to sleep, especially if all five are here creating havoc!
If you scroll down through this column you will see several mentiomns of John and his two gorgeous grandchildren. For those not aware of it, John's daughter, Lena Headey, was born here in Bermuda and gained international fame, or is it infamy, as one of the stars of the blockbuster TV series, "Games of Thrones" in which she played the part of Queen Cersei. We have posted several articles about Lena including the time when Queen Cersei met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. CLICK HERE for that article
John mentions the pandemic and we would be interested to know how our members are faring during these difficult times, and especially how your children and grandchildren are coping.
4th November 2018
David and Penny Long with their
grandchildren Brandon (10) and Victoria (7)
We just received these lovely photos of David and Penny Long with their two beautiful grandchildren enjoying a very busy fun weekend while visiting their grandparents home in Daytona Beach.
Young P.C. Dave Long - 1964
David served in the Bermuda Police from 1964 – 1967 and spend most of his time in Traffic and pursuing the love of his life, a young Bermudian by the name of Penny (Stevens). They tied the knot in 1966 and have been happily married for over 50 years . The two moved to the US in 1966 so David could pursue his dream of becoming an airline pilot, and after building many hours of flight time employed as a Corporate Pilot he qualified to fly with the airlines. He had a great career and retired as a Captain for Continental Air Lines, a major American carrier flying worldwide. He enjoyed nothing more than flying into Bermuda on his scheduled routes out of Newark, New Jersey, and encountered many fellow Policemen as passengers on his flights.
Sandra with her children Brandon and Victoria
Their daughter Sandra is Director of Nursing with a Home Health Company in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her two beautiful children love their grandparents unconditionally bringing them so much joy, in person and on Face time.
Brandon is ten and attends a private school, loves to read, is a Boy Scout and presently his dream is to be an MVP star in basketball with the NBA, which he excels in at his level!!!!!
Victoria is five, a princess with a sassy attitude, she has just started Kindergarten and she too is a Scout.
Penny with Brandon hard at practice
The above photo of Brandon with Grandma was taken as he was preparing to go to their community playground to shoot hoops and for Grandma to learn some new moves in basketball. As Penny says, "Thank heavens for growing up playing netball at BHS."
Victoria Pilot-In-Training adorned
in her Grandpa’s uniform
Penny says, “As all grandparents realize this is a very special time of our lives, you can spoil them as much as you like and then hand them back to their parents! We can never get enough of them but must say as much as we enjoy every moment with them we are totally exhausted after they leave.”
Brandon and Victoria
David and Penny continue to live in Spruce Creek Fly-In, a haven for pilots and golfing. They also enjoy traveling, especially cruising and their next cruise will be over the Christmas holidays loving the festivities that are celebrated throughout the ship. They also love to return to Penny’s Bermuda homeland from time to time to catch up with family and friends.
David was one of the first of our former colleagues to write an article for our Then and Now column which you can view at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/tan/17-dlong
He and Penny are also featured in a more recent article on the History of the Police Drama Group which can be viewed at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/lia/694-history-of-police-drama-group
28th July 2018
John Headey with his two lovely grandchildren, Wylie and Teddy Rose
Here's our latest Grandparents photo from Ibiza of John Headey with his two lovely grandchildren, Wylie aged 8 and Teddy Rose aged 3. We know young Wylie is following in his granddad's footsteps as a Huddersfield Town fan (scroll below to see a photo of Wylie in his Huddersfield Town strip), and we now wonder if either Wylie or his 3 year old sister, Teddy Rose, might follow in the footsteps of their mum, the internationally acclaimed Queen Cersei of Games of Thrones fame, otherwise known as Lena Headey, John's daughter, who was born in Bermuda while John was serving here in the Bermuda Police Service.
28th February 2018
We just received this fabulous family photo of Mike and Cam Burke taken at Christmas. Here they are with their son Mark & wife, Joanne and their children Leah, 18, and George, 16: their daughter, Sally, and her girls Megan, 19, Lucy nearly 18, and Aimee, 14 : Megan's friend, Ewan and Sally's friend, Tom.
Mike and Cam Burke and Family
Front Row (l-r) Leah, Megan and Lucy.
Middle Row: Mike, Joanne, Carolyn (Cam), Sally and Aimee.
Back: Mark, George, Ewan and Tom.
We are keeping well and hope you are, too. We've enjoyed seeing all the photos, the very interesting 'Then and Now' stories, plus all the other info you must take hours to process!
26th August 2017
Excitement at Grandpa’s Birthday - Mike Caulkett recently celebrated his birthday and it was almost too much for his 2 ½ year old grandson William who couldn’t keep still for moment when he saw the candles on Grandpa’s delicious looking hedgehog cake! We’ve concluded that this young man likes to party even more than Mike did while he was in Bermuda.
Mike and Jill are seen here with their son, Ben, and young William while our other photo is of two very happy youngsters, William and his 9 month old baby brother Samuel.
Mike Caulkett celebrates his birthday
(l-r) Ben, Jill and Mike, with William
Two happy young Caulketts - Samuel and William
Mike sent us a lovely video of William doing his birthday cake dance. We have problems downloading videos onto our website but you can view it on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BDAExPolice/
19th August 2017
John Headey - John has sent us this delightful photo of himself with his two year old granddaughter, Teddy Rose, which we are pleased to publish in this column on "Grandparents". John had previously sent us a photo of himself with his first grandchild, young Wylie, who is Teddy's big brother, and while visiting his grandparents in England on holiday was "converted" from American football to being a fan of John's home team Huddersfield Town. Scroll down to the bottom of this column to see John with Wylie in full kit.
Grandfather John Headey shares a hug with his second grandchild, Teddy Rose.
EDITORS NOTE
We started this column by posting additional photos in the order we received them but now realize that you would have to scroll all the way down to the bottom to view our latest additions, so from now on we will publish the most recent additions at the top of the column.
27th November
Ray Sousa - Ray joined the BPS in January 1966 and certainly made his mark as a young police officer with boundless enthusiasm for life and his work. He served in Central (Uniform), Central Parishes, CID, Murder Squad and in Narcotics. An avid Scout Leader, he was always keen to help young people and was the creator of the annual Police Pedal Cycle Gymkhana, along with Gary Perinchief and Roger Sherratt.
Young P.C. Ray Sousa
Ray was one of the first of our colleagues to write his memoirs for our Then and Now column, and he did a superb job writing a fascinating account of his life in Bermuda and Astralia which you can find at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/tan/40-rsousa
Ray married his wife Pat in 1972, and in 1974 they headed off to Australia to make a new life for themselves. Ray became a Government Ranger in Western Australia and went on to become the Community Emergency Services Coordinator where one of his primary duties was fighting major bush fires. He is now, finally fully retired although we hear that he is still a very active “volunteer”!
Ray and Pat have four children, Rebel, Chris, Amanda and Andrew, and they are now the grandparents of no fewer than 7 grandchildren, with some living in Australia and some here in Bermuda, so family get-togethers are few and far between!
Their daughter Amanda who is living here in Bermuda, has two children - Jasmine and Joshua. Their son Andrew has 2 children and lives in Bassendean within an hours drive of Ray and Pat, while their son Chris has 3 children, Jada, Braydon and Adison, and they live in Bridgetown, Western Australia, about 2 ½ hours away - a very short hop out there!
Fortunately, the family all got together this year for Easter, and as these two photos clearly indicate, their family reunion was held in Australia, at Ray and Pat’s home where they enjoyed Easter egg hunts, a big lunch, cricket and other sports, and a visit to Cohuna Wild Life Park.
Riding the Sabre Tooth Tiger
(From head to toe) Oscar 7, Arye 5, Joshua 5, Adison 6, Braydon 8, Jasmine 8, and Jada 10.
Feeding Wallabies and Kangaroos
(l-r) Braydon 8, Joshua 5, Adison 6, Jasmine 8, and Jada 10
Ray, as always, send his regards and very best wishes to all those he knew and worked with in the BPS.
Jerome Simons - joined the BPS in October 1972 and served in numerous department including Central (Uniform) Operations (Cycle Squad), Eastern, Murder Room, Narcotics (Dog Handler), Prosecutions, Marine Section, and Operations (Traffic).
Young P.C. Jerome Simons
After retiring in January 2002 Jerome has been operating a boat maintenence business along with his two sons, Jermaine and Jahmal, and they have developed a reputation as being at the top of their trade. Jerome also has another son, Jahsha who works as a Customs Officer, and a daughter, LaQuita, who works in caregiving.
During the past two years Jerome has been working part-time as a process server for a local credit card company and a well known law firm, which takes him back to his days as a warrant server in Prosecutions which was supposed to be for a 6 month attachment but after executing 400 summonses and warrants in his first 2 months he ended up staying for 3 years.
Jerome has two young grandchildren, one living here in Bermuda and one in Canada and he loves getting together with both of them as often as possible.
Jerome with his two sons, Jermaine who is holding his son Joah
who is almost 2, and Jahsha
Jerome holding his eldest grandson Jalen
who is almost 3, and Jahmal
Grandson Joah being held by his proud Papa
21st November 2018
Robert "Bob" Porritt - Our first grandfather is Robert "Bob" Porritt who served in the BPS from 1970-1975. Bob has already written an excellent article about his life and his time in the Bermuda Police which you can find at http://expobermuda.com/index.php/tan/111-rporritt He sent us this lovely photo of himself with his four grandchildren several months ago, and it was this that gave me the idea to devote a special article, or a column to our grandparents and their grandchildren.
Bob Porritt and his grandchildren
(L to R) Thomas who is 10yrs just about to start year 6. He is a keen footballer and very good at it. Next is Lauren who is 13yrs starting year 9. She is a typical teenager and has been a member of Dewsbury Arts Group for a year and has appeared in two or three plays including Henry Millers, The Crucible. The little one on the end is Leo, 1yr, he has been walking for a while now and seemed to miss out the crawling business. These three are children of my youngest son, Chris, who is a Police Officer. Chris' wife is also a Police Officer. Leo lives with them but Lauren and Thomas stay with their mother and visit Chris on his days off. They are all happy and hoping to move to a bigger house soon.
Last but not least is Betsy, who is sat on Lauren's knee. She has just gone 2yrs and is the daughter of my eldest son, Andrew, who works for a BT Franchise. Betsy is at the stage where she knows what she wants and pushes the boundaries. Andrew and his wife are also hoping to move to a bigger house.
They all live in the local area of Morley, Dewsbury and Liversedge. Myself and Pam regularly babysit due to Police shifts and Andrews wife is a nurse at St James in Leeds. We see all of the children regularly and we are lucky if we get one day off a week. They do tire us out but as the saying goes 'we can give them back at some time'.
I think they will keep us fit, touch wood, for some time to come.
Regards to all the other former Bermuda Police Officers who are also grandparents and the best of luck. Enjoy them!
Regards
Bob Porritt
Dave Garland served from 1961-1976 in a wide variety of departments including Central (Hamilton), Cycle Squad, Operations, Central CID, Murder Room, and for several years as the Inspector in charge of Marine Section. In fact Dave and Derek Jenkinson built our first police boat at Admiralty House in 1962, although neither of them were posted to Marine Section when they completed the job. For more information about our first police boat go to http://expobermuda.com/index.php/articles/10-first-boat
Dave was one of five former colleagues who recently attended a Grandparents Day at the Bermuda High School for Girls (BHS) and he later wrote to say, ”What a pleasant surprise to meet all our former colleagues, and what a special treat to see Andy Lavery who I hadn’t seen since he left for Canada back in 1974, and also to see Keith Lovell, both of whom I worked with on Marine Section.
One Very Proud Yorkshireman!
Dave Garland with his two gorgeous grandchildren, Isla and Jodie
Dave was an avid sportsman who played rugby, hockey and football for the Police teams. He and his wife Sue have settled in Bermuda and are fortunate to have both of their children, Christopher and Caitlin, living in Bermuda. Caitlin has two gorgeous children, Jodie aged 11 and Isla aged 8, who both attend BHS.
Chris is an owner of Flanagan’s on Front Street which was previously owned by the legendary Tom Gallagher. Flanagans is Bermuda’s premier sports bar and well worth a visit if you happen to be visiting the Island. Chris and Flanagan’s will be soon opening a second sports bar and restaurant at Belmont Hills Golf Club (formerly Belmont Hotel) which is good news for Dave and all his mates in the Bermuda Senior Golf Association which is now based at Belmont Hills following the closure of Riddell’s Bay Golf Club.
Dave is now fully retired but really enjoys “hacking” around the golf course. Sue is still in great shape doing lots of keep fit. They are also very involved with their two grandchildren.
Roger Sherratt - I served from 1964 – 1992, first in Central (Hamilton), Eastern, Traffic, Central CID, Crime Prevention, and for most of the last 10 years in Police Community Media Relations, retiring as Chief Inspector.
Now fully retired I keep busy as Editor of this Expo website, as President of the Bermuda Ex-Police Association, and as an avid golfer with the Bermuda Senior Golfers Association when time permits. My wife Marian and I are very fortunate to have both our children living on Island with their spouses. Joanna is a GP with her own Practice, and Tommy is a Quantity Surveyor/Project Manager. Between them they have five children who all now live within a five minute drive of our home in Flatts.
Marian and I also attended Grandparents Day at BHS to see two of our five grandchildren, Olivia and Elizabeth who are both 8 years old and in Upper Primary.
Roger Sherratt with his granddaughter Olivia
Granny Marian Sherratt with granddaughter, Elizabeth (centre) and her classmate
I consider myself quite handy with a camera but nothing ever prepared me for trying to capture five active children for long enough to take a photo with everyone looking in the same direction at the same time. Fortunately, a miracle happened and here they are!
Roger's Grandchildren
Olivia, Elizabeth, Ben, Isla and Edward
EDITORS NOTE - We invite you to send us photos of your grandchildren and we will add them to this column as they are received.
Andy Lavery served from 1970-1974 in Central (Hamilton), on Mobile Reserve, as a CID Aide, in Murder Room and then in Marine Section under Dave Garland.
Young P.C. Andy Lavery
Andy and his wife Betty now live in Niagara Falls, but Betty is a Bermudian and they often spend time on Island. They have 4 grandchildren, with Emma, Kira and Sophie in Australia (there's a good excuse to avoid weekend babysitting!) and Abby here in Bermuda.
Andy and Betty have their hands full at Disneyworld, Florida, 2013,
(l-r) Emma, Kira (Australia), Abby (Bermuda), Sophie (Australia).
Wedding Photo, Loch Lomond, Scotland, 2016, from left to right.
Back Row: BettyAnn, daughter-in-law Karen, son Jason, mechanical engineer (Australia),
son Mark, senior manager (KPMG ) here in Bermuda, daughter-in-law Pamela (Bermuda) and Andy.
Front Row: Kira (7), Emma (10), Sophie (8), (Australia), Abigail (9),(Bermuda).
John Headey - John arrived in Bermuda in 1971 as an experienced policeman having served for 7 years in Huddersfield Borough Police (his home town) and the West Yorkshire Police.
He served here from 1971-1977 before he and his wife Susan - the met and married here - returned to the U.K with their young daughter Lena. For fans of Game of Thrones you may know that Lena is now an internationally acclaimed actress currently starring as Queen Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Lena has a son, Wylie, who loves spending time with his grandad John.
John Headey with grandson Wylie in Huddersfield Town kit
Wylie normally lives with his mum Lena in the U.S. where she has been playing a starring role in “Game of Thrones”, but Wylie is on an extending visit to his grandparents in Yorkshire where John is wasting no time converting young Wylie from American sports to football (or soccer as it’s called in the States), and where better than in Huddersfield where Huddersfield Town are currently top of the Championship.
Dave Cook welcomes everyone
