Police cadets reunite 50 years after passing out

A group of more than 60 former police cadets have reunited after 50 years, with some travelling from the US and Australia to meet up with ex-colleagues.

They were teenagers when they joined West Yorkshire Police in 1975, and trained and volunteered with the force before a passing out parade in the famously hot summer of 1976.

Many of them went on to become police officers, including organiser Rob Winslade, 65, who retired 14 years ago and now runs a family dog walking business in Liversedge.

He said there had been four reunions, including 1985, 1995 and 2005, but 2025's had been the best-attended.

"Some people have not seen each other since the passing out parade, so there was plenty of catching up to do," he said.

"It went absolutely fantastic. As one of the lads described it at the end, it was an epic event. It was really special."

The group met at Wakefield Sports Club, over the road from the now-closed Bishopgarth House police training centre where they originally met.

Mr Winslade – who had a 30-year career in the force after his stint in the cadets – said it was "genuinely lovely" to reminisce with old friends.

"It was lovely to see so many people after 50 years, including two of our old sergeants who were the bane of our lives when we were 16.

"One of our sergeants, Bronwyn, it was the first time in 27 years of retirement that she had been to any police reunion. So we were quite touched that she was there."

He said the force had changed completely in the last 50 years.

"It had to move with the times," he said. "But I don't bemoan it, whatever is happening now is relevant to now and what I did was relevant to then."

His most memorable experience as an officer was when he volunteered for duty at Princess Diana's funeral in September 1997, he said.

"Myself and about 15 police motorcyclists volunteered. We rode down to London and were looking after the motorway junctions.

"That was possibly the standout point of my career.

"We got to the motorway bridge at Junction 14/15 at Northampton early, just as the funeral cortege set off.

"When it left London people started to come out to the motorway and when the cortege went past the motorway was absolutely full of people, with just enough room for the cortege to get through. I was very emotional."

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