Founded 1980
Chair:        
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Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


 Issue No. 84 Spring 2021

Paul Laxton
Welcome to the RPGA Newsletter for Spring 2021, and as you will no doubt notice we start the New Year with a new face as editor.
At the Annual General Meeting of the association held online as a “Virtual Meeting” using ZOOM, in November 2020, Paul Laxton announced that he intended to “step back” from his role as editor, due to the serious ill health of his wife, Lennie. Sadly, she has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, a life limiting and debilitating condition, and therefore Paul has quite rightly decided that she is his priority from now on. I realise that this is a very difficult time for them and I am sure that I speak on behalf of all our members when I send them both our very best wishes and to tell them that our thoughts and prayers are with them.
I have therefore stepped into the breach and agreed to take on the role of Editor.

I realise that I have some very large boots to fill, and I only hope that I am up to the challenge. I should however say that I am not entirely alone in this task, as I am being very ably assisted in the Editor’s role by Roger Outram, who is providing me with input in the form of his own contributions to the content, as well as advice, moral and technical support, so thank you Roger.

I was looking back to the Newsletter of Spring 2020 (Edition 82) and could not help thinking that there can be very few people reading this now who would have thought that come the Spring 2021 Edition we would be in a position that we are just starting to emerge from a second lockdown period that lasted from just after Christmas, and that controls and limitations are still in place, and look set to be with us until well into the year.

However, the good news is that not only do we have a selection of vaccines that appear to be effective against the virus, but we also have a vaccination programme that seems to be proving to be efficient and well- organised. Who would have thought that, given the chaos and confusion that marked the first few months?

I suspect that, as by its’ very nature the RPGA membership is “of a certain age” the vast majority of our members will have received at least the first dose of vaccine, and by the time this actually goes to print the likelihood is that many of you will have received the second dose as well. The pandemic has been a strange time indeed, and I personally have been saddened to see some of the more adverse effects on the population as the disease has swept its way across the country, and most of the world. Most saddening has been to see the rise to the surface of what I call the “Me First and Me Only” culture. It has been disheartening to see how so many of the population seemed happy to subscribe to one or more of the many conspiracy theories about the disease, and choose to believe that as all the indicators were that this was an illness that impacted most on the old and vulnerable, they were immune to it, and therefore refuse to comply with the restrictions that were meant to safeguard all of us. At times it really did feel as if the younger generation were willing to sacrifice the older generation, or at least some of us, in order that they could continue to live their lives without restrictions and in any way they chose. I am afraid that it will take many years for this country to fully recover from all that has happened, both in terms of society and of course economically.

Finally I must turn to what I believe is one of the main reasons why people are members of the RPGA, and that is to be able to keep in touch with events, and in particular news of people they once knew and worked with. Sadly since the last edition was published we have lost several members who have died. This includes John Dring, whose death was announced at the beginning of February. Because of his wide-ranging roles in the

Prison Service, particularly in Training, and as an Area Manager, John will be known to, and remembered by many. An obituary to John, written by his good friend Tim Newell, is published on Page 9/12.

Other members, or people that you may have known, who have recently passed include, Roy Robson, John Lewis.

So this is my first editorial, and first edition as Editor to present to you, the membership. I do hope that you enjoy it, and please remember when reading these articles, if you think you have a better story to tell, or indeed think you are a better writer, then this is your Newsletter and the contents are in your hands. So please feel free to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, write an article and send it to me. The deadline for the next edition is the beginning of September 2021, so don’t be shy, start writing, you are “almost” guaranteed to be published. I can be contacted by email at graham.mumbycroft@gmail.com or by post at 15 Thirsk Drive, Lincoln, LN6 8SZ.


Graham Mumby-Croft
(This Edition)
The death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke Of Edinburgh was announced on Friday 9 th of April. On behalf of the membership of the RPGA we send our thoughts and best wishes to Her majesty The Queen and her family.