Real life tales of police history were shared when a veteran officer visited the Museum of Policing in Warrington.
At a time when women were rarely seen in the force, Mildred (Milly) Woodhead (nee Dow) was appointed Policewoman 3 in Chester City Police in October 1948. During her career she rose through the ranks to Chief Superintendent with Greater Manchester Police, retiring in December 1975.
The sprightly 97-years-old enthralled volunteers and officers with her tales of life in the early days – including “tailoring” her own uniform, coping with the male-dominated environment and helping break down barriers for women.
Joining Milly on the visit was her friend retired officer Julie Westgate. They were welcomed by Chief Superintendent Alison Ross, Superintendent Adam Ross, Museum Manager Peter Hampson and volunteers.
Chief Supt Ross presented Milly with a Cheshire Constabulary Shield bearing the new emblem of King Charles, and Peter presented her with a bouquet. Museum researcher Will Brown gave her a signed copy of his book on police history “A Bobby’s Job.”
Memories were stirred on her museum tour when she saw the display of old uniforms and she spoke of how smart the male officers looked in their high collar jackets.
But she had grim memories of the white arm sleeves worn by officers on traffic signing in her early days.
“The fabric was very plasticky, and I didn’t like that at all,” she said.
Resourceful Milly bought some fabric and made her own very smart bands.
“I loved the uniform and felt very smart wearing it,” she said.
She said women were under-equipped for the role. The men had full equipment, including handcuffs, but women merely had a notebook and a whistle.
As one of the first police women she loved driving the cars and learnt in an old Green Cheshire Rover – a replica is in the display of miniature police cars.
Pausing by the recreated front desk from the 1960s, Milly compared old admin with the present computerised world.
“When I was on the switchboard sometimes it was very busy, I used to write notes on scrappy pieces of paper. Then when things got quieter writing things up in the big log book in my neatest hand writing,” she added.
She was proud that the system was efficient and that nothing was ever lost.
Milly is one of only two surviving members of the old Chester City Force which came into Cheshire 1949. The other is retired PC Dave Moore, father of Carol Wood Secretary of the Chester branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers.
Milly’s father Albert Edward Dow served with Birkenhead Police and was a Sergeant on retirement.
She decided she wanted a worthwhile career of public service, initially choosing nursing…but resigned after two weeks as it wasn’t for her.
When she joined Chester Police there were only two other female officers.
“At that time people were pleasant but it was quite difficult for women. Women generally dealt with crimes like shoplifting,” she said.
She said she didn’t like the thought of going to post mortems, as women didn’t usually go, but she remembers feeling brave when she went for the first time.
After retiring in 1975 Milly married and the couple lived in Hong Kong and Oman where her husband worked in security posts.