About my Blog

Welcome to my Blog!

 

Welcome to my guide to British Police memorabilia relating to Avon & Somerset Constabulary. This is essentially for educational purposes and I receive no financial gain from this blog. This is not an official Avon & Somerset Constabulary blog. 

The scope of this also includes the Port of Bristol Police; Bristol Constabulary; City of Bath Police; Somerset Constabulary; Somerset & Bath Constabulary.

I cover most aspects of badges, uniform, equipment and miscellaneous memorabilia. Examples of items from other Police Forces have been included for reference. I've included some additional historical information on various topics for reference and general interest, such as WW2 British steel helmets and Police vehicles. 

Many of the observations and comments in my blog will equally apply to other Police Forces in the United Kingdom. When I started this 'blog' there wasn't much information online for collectors of Police memorabilia, especially for anyone new to collecting. Whilst the main forcus is on Avon & Somerset Constabulary, much of the more generic information will apply to other UK Police Forces.

I'm an enthusiastic collector of almost anything relating to Avon & Somerset Constabulary. It's a lack of space and perhaps budget which  restricts the size of my personal collection. Collecting to me is both an interesting and enjoyable hobby. I've scaled back my collecting in recent years and now prefer to focus more on sharing my existing collection rather than aquiring new items.  

Avon & Somerset Police have now opened their own museum at the Police Headquarters in Portishead. This is very good news at a time when the Police are under ever increasing pressure to save money. A museum is often seen as low priority. However it demonstrates a pride in it’s history and desire to preserve artifacts for future. Such museums are often maintained by volunteers and running costs kept to a minimum.

 
I'll try not to duplicate information found elsewhere on the internet and include references where possible. I'll update and edit as and when I get more information or acquire new items.

The photographs are mostly items from my own personal collection so please respect the copyrite on these. I've also made use of photographs from other sources and happy to remove any of these if they do breach copyrite which I'm not aware of. I've made selective use of the extensive photograph library from the Avon & Somerset Constabulary History and Heritage Flickr group. This has been an excellent source for my research. 

Please be aware that collecting certain current issue Police equipment or uniform is prohibited by law, even for legitimate collectors. However, there are still many obsolete items which are perfectly legal to collect.

 

The majority of items featured in this blog are 'vintage' and obsolete. I focus mostly on Policing up to the early 2000's. 

If there are any serving or former employees of Avon & Somerset Constabulary who may be able to contribute regarding any aspects of the uniform/equipment or the vehicles used either in the past or present.What may seem like triva to some, can be useful information for the collector, especially with dates.

Also, if you have any memorabilia relating to Avon & Somerset Police or it's predecessors that you are willing to sell or donate to my private collection then please get in touch. I would be pleased to include a photograph of it in my blog if it's something new to my collection. If you would like to get in touch with me then please use the contact form found at the bottom right hand margin.

Alternatively if you do have anything to add or clarify regarding specific posts within my blog then please get in touch. I'll publish and/or reply to comments as soon as I can.