This month, ABBOTSnews spoke to Reg Hunt, a former member of Hertfordshire Police who has shared memories from his incredible policing career, including seven years as a ‘village bobby’ in Abbots Langley.
Reg was working at Sun Printers in Watford in 1955 when he decided to join the special constabulary. He spent nine years with the police, working as a sergeant before being promoted to inspector.
During his time as a special constable, Reg was on holiday with his young family in Bude, Cornwall, when he rescued a girl who was lying face down at the bottom of a pool. Lips blue and close to death, Reg resuscitated her and was awarded a commendation for saving her life.
After this heroic deed, Reg was pictured in a local newspaper in 1972 with his young son, Chris, holding his hand. Chris followed in his father’s footsteps and also joined Hertfordshire Police, while Reg’s granddaughter is currently serving as an officer in the Metropolitan Police. Reg was likewise following family tradition in his choice of career, as his father served in the regimental police in India. One of his uncles worked for the Metropolitan Police, and another for the RAF Police.
After his commendation, Reg spent seven years working in the traffic department. He was then handed a helmet, cape, truncheon and three-gear bike and sent to work as ‘a village bobby’ in Abbots Langley.
During his time working in the village, Reg became involved in raising money for charity, particularly Hertfordshire Mencap, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities. Reg, along with several other officers, later went by the moniker ‘MenCops’.
In 1983, Reg was one of five Hertfordshire Police officers who travelled to Rome to see Pope John Paul II. The officers took with them sacks of letters written by Hertfordshire residents for the Pope.
As the officers lined up in uniform outside the Vatican, a photographer who was present for the event came up to them and asked: “What are you British bobbies doing here?”
That man happened to be Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon and former husband of Princess Margaret. He was photographing the event for The Sunday Times.
As 80,000 people screamed with excitement at the Pope’s appearance, he headed straight to these five Hertfordshire bobbies, who gave him a small bronze replica of a statue of Venus from St Albans Cathedral. The Pope enquired into what the men were doing, and they explained that they were the MenCops. One of the officers’ helmets was then passed around the crowd and returned brimming with donations from those seeking to support their efforts.
At one point, Reg spotted a young disabled boy who was stuck at the back of the crowd and desperate to catch a glimpse of the Pope. The officers picked him up out of his wheelchair and carried him to see the Pope at the barriers. The Pope, however, was about to get into his vehicle to be taken elsewhere. The officers saw his secretary whisper into his ear and, in a remarkable move, he turned back.
Reg said: “The Pope is never known to come back and talk to the same people twice – this time, he made an exception.”
The five bobbies decided that they would donate the money collected at the event to the boy. The boy’s father was adamant that he would not accept, but eventually conceded. Little did the officers know that the boy’s father was a wealthy oil magnate.
Some months later, a note arrived to the police force in Hertfordshire to say that a package was waiting for the officers. When Reg went to pick up the package, he found a hand-cast, hand-painted statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The father had gone to Mexico and donated the money to the poor, who gifted the statue as a thank you to the officers.
Brushes with spiritual leaders aside, Reg also shared a particularly humorous memory of his time as a bobby in Abbots. Following several incidents of stolen machinery, Reg was asked to investigate at a farm in Abbots. One night, Reg planted himself in the barn waiting to catch the thief. When he heard heavy breathing, Reg froze, thinking the thief had crept in and fearing they might be dangerous. Instead, he found an enormous pig – “the biggest sow I’ve ever seen!”
Reg now lives on the Isle of Wight with his wife.
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