© Jeff Dyson  - November 2006

Against my fathers advice I decided on a career in horticulture and obtained a provisional place at Wye College, in Kent, part of London University. However you had to complete a years practical experience prior to taking up your place. Not surprisingly my father secured me a place with Brighton Parks Department working at Stanmer Nursery. It was during this year I heeded my fathers advice and decided horticulture was not for me. At this time it was and still is a poorly paid, and the area of horticulture that I was considering, Council Parks Departments was in decline and advancement was very much ‘dead men’s shoes’. I therefore had to identify a new career and as a result on my nineteenth birthday I joined Brighton Police


I attended Initial Training at the District Training Centre at Sandgate Kent, passing out in late 1961. After a local induction course I commenced working nights on a beat in the Town Centre around Trafalgar Street and Gloucester Road. At this time there was a pub on nearly every corner on Gloucester Road, the majority frequented by the Irish community. On my on first night I had one customer leave a bar by the front window having been thrown out in a fight. My training wasn't much help but my Sergeant was soon on the scene to take over.

My uniform service during the early 60’s was not without its moments as it was the period of riots between Mods and Rockers in most seaside towns, Brighton being no exception. It meant working long shifts, most weekends and at times we were really the ‘thin blue line’.

Another incident I was involved in was a sea rescue on Wednesday 8 July 1964, when a French yacht with four persons on board was being washed ashore early one morning. The headline in the Evening Argus read ‘Chain Gang Heroes. They save yachtsmen. 60 ft lifeline to man in the sea