|
|
| Face to face with the doyen of Old Centaurs |
|
John Garratt met up with the
‘father’ of Derby Central School, ex-policeman Eric Hodkinson who once
patrolled a 21,000-acre beat in one of the wildest parts of Derbyshire -
on a push bike.
THERE is no mistaking the bearing - at 83 Eric ('Hockey') Hodkinson stands as straight and as true as he did more than 60 years ago when he first joined the police force. He still looks every inch the commanding officer and it is difficult to imagine a more fitting candidate for the title 'father' of Derby Central School. At his home in Broadway, Derby, this venerable old boy spends three hours every night preparing a talking newspaper for the blind, helps out at the police museum one day a week and in between rattles out articles on his 62 year-old typewriter with a crispness of style that would be the envy of many a younger writer. 'Hockey’ - he was given the nickname when he joined the Derbyshire force in 1936 - is the doyen of Old Centaurs. He won a scholarship to Central School at the age of 11 in 1926 and with endearing self-mockery describes himself as "not an Old Centaur but an ancient one." Recalling those early days, he says: "I went from Pear Tree School to Central School, which was then in Hastings Street, but our first classrooms were in the church buildings at the bottom of Middleton Street. I was in Form 1B on the ground floor and Form 1 A was upstairs on the first floor. As we got older we moved into Form 2B and moved up into Hastings Street school proper. "The girls' school adjoining was half of the same building but locked doors and curtained windows and doors were strictIy guarded. "The headmaster, 'Boss' Slater, was a very strict but fair and very efficient man who insisted on quietness in the corridors and stairs and we always had to walk, not run as modern kids do. 'Joss' Holmes was the woodwork master, 'Pop' Jolley was our form master, 'Alf Greensmlth was science, 'Bonzo' Tanton history, 'Froggy' Levi French, 'Snuffy' Astle English, 'Lofty' Lucy geography, 'Cocky' Waite art, 'Dicky' Bryden physical training. We were always polite as shorthand was by Miss Lamb. We didn't know where she came from, perhaps sneaked through from the girls' side!
"Mr Hainsworth, recently deceased, took over from 'Boss' Slater when he retired and he always wore his black gown. He tried to teach us economics but gave it up as a bad job, I think." 'Hockey' left school in 1930 at the age of 15 and decided to go into films - at least he obtained a post as assistant projectionist at Allenton cinema under manager Tommy Swift, working a 54-hour week for the princely sum of 27s 6d (£1.37 ½ p). The work included not only showing the films but also painting the fire escape! After six years - without promotion or even a rise in pay - 'Hockey' decided that he had had enough of the film business and followed-his father into the police force. His first action as a copper - on the orders of higher authority - was to buy a typewriter to type out his reports. The machine cost £12 10s (£12.50) from Harwoods and is still in pristine condition today. However, police work, as 'Hockey' quickly discovered, had very little to do with sitting in a warm office tapping out cosy reports. He was posted to Burbage, near Buxton, one of Derbyshire’s wildest moorland areas and ordered to patrol a 21,000-acre beat on a push bike, which he did - mostly in the rain. 'Hockey' served in the Derbyshire force throughout the war and in 1947 transferred to Derby Borough Police under the late chief constable, Colonel Horatio Rawlings. And it was fitting that his latter years in the 1960s should be spent at Darley Park - home of Central School - working in the police mounted section which was quartered in the park stables. 'Hockey' recalls: "'I loved horses and, of course, Darley Park was the perfect place for me. When the Derbyshire Assizes were in session we would be visited by Mr Justice Diplock. The judge would travel up from London in his Jaguar, towing his horse box. He was enchanted by Darley Park and its surroundings and we would stable his horse for him and every morning he would turn up to ride before going to St Mary's Gate to sit on the bench. The morning ride always put him in a good humour and I used to think: 'I hope that pays off for some poor beggar in the dock.’” Today, 30 years on, he still has close connections with the police and many a young recruit has benefited from his series of talks entitled 'Hockey's Bran Tub'. At home his mementoes include pictures of all Central School pupils and staff from 1927 and 1929 which, like the owner, have stood the test of time impeccably. Source: Barry Muir supplied this Derby Evening Telegraph article. Date unknown.
|
