Letters

Founded 1980

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Secretary:

Treasurer:

Graham Smith

Jan Thompson

Graham Mumby-Croft

Issue 83 Autumn 2021 - Anniversary Edition

YOUR LETTERS

Dear all

I am pleased to report that once again I have a considerable tome from my good friend Bob Duncan which I reproduce below. I also delighted to have received the very first letter sent directly to me from John Berry, and include a letter from John Ramwell sent to Paul Laxton as editor.

As an aside Bob Duncan has written a book which I had the privilege of proof reading and preparing for publication which is now completed. It is essentially an autobiography intended for his grandchildren, but it contains a great deal of information and anecdote of Bob’s journey through the prison service which I found extremely interesting. Bob has given his permission for us to publish the relevant parts of book which we will hopefully serialise within the Newsletter over the next few issues. (Click Here)

As ever please take time to write something that will be of interest to all your retired friends and colleagues and send them to me. Nice short chatty letters will be published in this section of the newsletter longer with more specific content will be considered for a separate entry in the Newsletter. The address to use is roger@rsoutram.co.uk or Roger Outram, 12 Grove Park, Magazine Lane, Wisbech, PE13 1LF.

Letters:

Firstly a letter from Frances Maserick passed to me by Harry Brett.

Dear Harry

Both Alison and I had staﬀ members who contracted mesothelioma and in circumstances where it could only have come from exposure in a prison; unlike our recently passed colleague Derek Twiner who had worked in an asbestos factory in university vacations 60 years earlier. Alison and I both found that a claim against the department was successful.

Presumably Mr Mason has been advised by the PGA/RPGA to claim.

Obviously facts diﬀer case by case. A trades oﬃcer working in roof spaces may ﬁnd a claim easier to make than an oﬃcer working on the landings.

I recognise that my and Alison’s experience go back to the early 2000s and things may have changed but a claim maybe worthwhile if only to help provide for his family.

Kind regards

Francis Maserick

And the following from Robert Mason:

Dear All,

My name is Robert Mason and I joined the service as a young oﬃcer at HMP Leicester in 1965. I retired as Deputy Governor at HMYOI Onley in 1995 having served at a number of establishments in an operational capacity. I was pleased to read about the work being undertaken now in support of prison service staﬀ being supported in their diﬃcult daily work which has prompted me to share my recent life changing experience. I have never smoked, I have kept ﬁt, had a good diet, never been into hospital other than to visit and was skiing in the French Alps in February 2020. When the pandemic struck, my wife and I and the Country went into lockdown. We had our ﬁrst Covid jab in January 2021 and what I thought was a reaction to the vaccination, a shortness of breath, prompted me to make an appointment with my surgery. I was seen by a locum who examined me and prescribed antibiotic and steroid tablets, after a week the condition had not improved and made a further appointment with my surgery. I saw a diﬀerent locum who gave me another examination but said that I needed an x-ray.

The Doctor rang Glenﬁeld Hospital, Leicester and arranged for me to go straight to the Hospital CDU . I telephoned my wife to say I was going for an x-ray and would see her later. On arrival at Glenﬁeld, it was extremely busy but after my x-ray a Doctor came and explained that I had ﬂuid in my right lung and when a bed could be found I would be admitted. What a shock, I had nothing with me other than the clothes I stood up in and my mobile phone. The Doctor said the ward would look after all that and after four hours I was admitted to Ward 36. My wife was also shocked at the suddenness of my admission telling her she could not visit because of Covid and my car was in the car park, later retrieved by my eldest son. After a number of tests, x-rays and consultations it was decided to drain some ﬂuid from my right lung for further testing, and to ease my breathing. This did not work and a litre of ﬂuid had to be removed from between my ribcage and lung.

It was at this stage the consultant asked me if I had ever come into contact with asbestos. As I had never worked with asbestos as far as I knew, my answer was ‘never.’ The consultant and his colleagues decided to drain the rest of ﬂuid from my right lung and carry out a biopsy to determine the cause of condition. I was given a general anaesthetic for this procedure and another ﬁve litres of ﬂuid was removed, no wonder I was breathless as the ﬂuid had pushed my lung over rendering it almost ineﬀective. When I came round I could breath normally once again but now awaited the results of the biopsy. The results conﬁrmed that I had lung cancer caused by inhaling asbestos ﬁbres but could not tell me when I had been contaminated as with this condition. It could have been thirty, forty or ﬁfty years ago! My prognosis was that ‘Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma is not curable but various treatments are available and these will be discussed with me at a later date.’ I spent three weeks in Glenﬁeld Hospital and I have nothing but admiration for all the staﬀ who treated me.

While at home enjoying my wife’s excellent cooking, care and attention I had an appointment to attend the Oncology Department at Glenﬁeld Hospital where a consultant discussed the various options now open to me going forward. It was decided that as was ﬁt and healthy surgery would be an option if I agreed. I agreed, and an appointment was made the following day for me to attend the surgeons clinic. The surgeon, Mr Nakas saw me, and we agreed that surgery was a good option for me, he said he would make the arrangements for me to have the operation as soon as it could be listed. I asked Mr Nakas when did he think I contracted this cancer from asbestos. Again it is not understood how long ago I could have been contaminated but forty, ﬁfty, sixty years is normal, we just do not know. He emphasized that the cancer is not curable.

After my consultation with Mr Nakas a Specialist Thoracic Nurse interviewed me to spell out what the surgery meant in terms of the procedure. She explained that I was to have major surgery to my right lung that would remove the tumour but would be unable to cure the cancer. I went into Glenﬁeld Hospital on Ward 29 and had my surgery on 22.04.21. I came round in the recovery room with three drains in my right side, cannulas in my neck, arm and hand, hooked up to a morphine drip surrounded by a number of PPI clad staﬀ. I was taken up to the Intensive Care Ward and monitored. It was then that I realised I had been in the Operating Theatre for seven hours! The care and attention I was shown by all staﬀ on Ward 29 was a humbling experience they all were exceptional and I was very lucky to live near to Leicester to have this world leading treatment and a world leading surgeon in Mr Nakas.

I agreed to participate in one of the consultants research programmes, which I am still part of, and will remain until the New Year. I now have three monthly CT scans at Glenﬁeld Hospital and attend the Clinic of Mr Nakas, I have just had my second CT Scan and I do not have to have any further treatment at this stage, I feel I have been very lucky and remain optimistic for the future.

In writing to you of my experience I feel that the service should be aware that during my career spanning thirty years of operational duty, I have been contaminated at a prison I have worked in with asbestos that has led to surgery for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma which is classed as an Industrial Disease. All staﬀ should have access to the asbestos surveys that have been carried out over many years in all of our establishments, and make archive documents available as this contamination will continue unless we are made aware of its existence and its location.

KEEP SAFE

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Please send Letters to: Roger Outram, 12 Grove Park, Magazine Lane, Wisbech, PE13 1LF

E-mail: roger@rsoutram.co.uk

Other contact: Telephone 01945 582624

And now the correspondence from Bob Duncan:

Few will regret the passing of 2022, and we all hope that the New Year will bring a relief from the threat of the virus. We are amongst the elderly by deﬁnition and as such that more vulnerable. We are also able to take precautions. Those who still operate our prisons are unsung heroes. What they face daily is total uncertainty, reduced staﬃng and increased anti social behaviour. The Governor of a large Local Prison writes, ‘I apologise that the regime is constantly changing, but I have to react to the number of positive results and increasing number of staﬀ absences (currently 74), and we are isolating 244 prisoners due to positive PCR results. In my experience we never faced working conditions and problems as diﬃcult as they are currently. Potentially there is worse to come when court system returns to ‘normal’ and starts sentencing the 60,000 alleged outstanding cases. It is estimated that there are people held on remand who will have served longer than any sentence they might be awarded.’ As has been said by many, we served at ‘the best of time’, that remains very apt at the present moment.

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For our generation it has been a time of deep sadness at the loss of so many dear colleagues; the latest as I write being John Childs. We ﬁrst met at Dover 56 years ago and have kept in touch every year since. Each loss is though an apt reminder of the quality of the personnel managing the Service in our time. More than that, we knew each other, supported each other, and remained friends in retirement. That is less self evident today!

I attended the Requiem Mass in Thanksgiving for his life; I was the only Governor there, though I know Bernard and Marjorie Marchant would have been there had they not passed away before him. John, Jean and I attended their funerals; John was already showing signs ‘ageing’. It was probably the last occasion I saw John. I had forgotten how proud he had remained of his Scottish ancestry, so it was a most ﬁtting touch that we were all piped into the Church and again when we left. I knew at the back of my mind that John had a medical background prior to joining the Service. I had assumed he was training to be a doctor, but it was in fact Dentistry (click to see eulogy)

At the service I sat next to fellow mourner who appeared to be on his own. We got talking and I asked how he knew John. He explained he was builder involved in house maintenance and had undertaken quite a lot of work on their property. He was so impressed with their kindness, wisdom, and genuine concern other people, and that they were always ready to help anyone; and that he wished to say a formal ‘goodbye.’ When he realised my background, he was eager to know more about John’s career. Later he asked if I was attending the graveside, I explained I had to drive back to Kent, and would probably get lost ﬁnding my there. He immediately said he would take me and bring me back to the Church.

I am extremely grateful to his sons for making the Eulogy on the facing page available.

• John was born on 19 March 1933 in Dundee, Scotland. He was an only child. His fathe , also called John, served with the Black Watch during WW1.

• John attended Lawside Academy in Dundee and at the age of 17 he won a scholarship to study Dentistry at St Andrews University. He studied there from 1950 to 1953 but knew early on that a career in dentistry was not for him. His grandson, Sebastian, recently graduated with a 1st class degree from his alma mater.

• After St Andrews, John began his 2 years National Service in the Royal Signals.

• After completing his National Service, John worked as a Telecommunications Superintendent with the Post Oﬃce in London.

• John married Jean, at St Edward the Confessor Catholic church in Hendon on 30 September 1961. They had met at a dance in London; Jean did not really want to be at the dance as her bags were packed and she was ready to move to New Zealand with her mother. She saw John looking very dashing in a waistcoat. He asked Jean to dance; neither of them knowing that they would dance together for decades to come.

• For several years, John did voluntary work at 'Norman House' for discharged prisoners. The Warden there passed John an application to be an Assistant Governor in the Prison Service telling John that was cut out for the job.

• John spent more than two decades serving in Her Majesty's Prison Service, with his ﬁrst posting in Dover Borstal as an Assistant Governor. After spells in Wakeﬁeld at the Prison Services College and at Armley Jail in Leeds as Deputy Governor, he became the Governor of Portland Borstal, at that time the largest Borstal in Europe. He then took up a 3 year post as Governor of Bristol Prison, before his ﬁnal post, as Head of Training and Development.

• During his life, John was heavily involved with charitable work, with the Round Table, Rotary Clubs and as the Vice Chairman of the League of Friends for Epsom and Ewell Hospitals.

• After his retirement from the Home Oﬃce, he set-up his own company, TCS Management Consultancy in 1985. He enjoyed the independence and won contracts with the Home Oﬃce, the Inland Revenue, and some large commercial organizations, such as BT.

• John and Jean celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on 30 Sep 2011 on Epsom Downs with family and friends. They were also blessed to celebrate their 60 Wedding Anniversary on 30 Sep 2021. Due to the pandemic, this was done via a 'Zoom Call' with family joining from around the world

• John passed away at Epsom General Hospital on December 22 , 2022, at the age of 88. A service was held at St. Joseph's Church Epsom on January 25", before he was laid to rest in Epsom cemetery.

•

John is survived by Jean, and his three children. The eldest, Simon, lives in Tokyo and Is an entrepreneur, having built and sold several businesses in the recruitment and staﬃng industry. He is a former Chief Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police. He is married to Mika, a Japanese national and they have two sons. His daughter Jennifer has spent her entire nursing career within the NHS.

She is married to Sandro, a lawyer, and they have four children and three grandchildren. His youngest son, David, was a Senior Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police. He is married, to Naomi, a Japanese national and they live In Kuala Lumpur, where he heads regional security for a large US Insurance group.

JOHN CHILDS R.I.P.

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I recently remade contact with Mike Poselay; he wrote back, ‘it was such a joy to hear from you. Talking to you today took me back 20 years plus to our days at Pentonville, discussing things it seemed like

only yesterday.’ He does some lecturing on management at Westminster University, and claims he often quotes my style of management! When he ﬁrst retired, he had plans to travel the world. Unfortunately, his wife fell ill and that prevented his plans. So being Mike he undertook a Law Degree and was called to the bar at Gray’s Inn in 2007. He now

undertakes Court work which he enjoys.

He naturally asked about Steve Metcalfe, I explained we always made contact in early December, and I would pass on Mike’s contact details. I received a sad but lovely

letter from Lesley; I will share parts of it. 'I do not suppose Steve shared with you the state of his health, but he had been unwell for the past few years. We got out a bit, but Steve could not walk far without getting breathless. He was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder in July, had surgery and chemotherapy and we were conﬁdent he had recovered. In November there was a rapid deterioration and a sudden collapse at home. He was rushed to hospital and received a devastating diagnosis of brain cancer. We had hoped it could be stabilised, but it was not to be, and Steve died peacefully on the 24th of November.

I miss him dreadfully but have so many memories of our life together and I am comforted by knowing he

is at peace and no longer suﬀering.

He was always immensely proud and grateful that you had believed in him and gave scope at Pentonville which led on to a very successful career culminating in being Governor of Wormwood Scrubs, which he enjoyed enormously, but he always looked back on Pentonville with great fondness.'

John Berry comments, ‘This is sad news. He worked for me as a senior oﬃcer and had great potential which he realised when we moved to Fresh Start and the grades were uniﬁed. He was excellent with prisoners and staﬀ. He also knew all the tricks of the trade and staﬀ knew it.’

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Mike Poselay

I keep in touch with Senior Oﬃcer, ‘Stuey’ who retired from Pentonville. He writes ‘How lovely to hear from you. I got the email on the way to The Isle of Sky for a ﬁshing trip. I heard with great sadness that Steve Metcalf had passed away. He was a decent man with a great sense of humour and like you he looked after staﬀ. It is a real shame he is no longer with us. I remember Mike Poselay very well. A great character and I am not surprised he is doing well for himself. Enjoying retirement and caught two nice Trout for BBQ. Recent storms have not caused us any damage, but many homes were out power for some considerable time. The virus of course has dominated our lives and I have friends who have sadly lost their lives.

Harry Brett must be a happy bunny, his football team, Manchester City are guaranteed to be the winners of the ‘Premier League.’

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A missive from John Ship who comments they are having a cold snap with the temperature down to 20 degrees! He continues by saying he was chatting to a colleague, Arthur Littler who was a Prison Oﬃcer and Governor before retiring here in Hua Han the same year as me. I mentioned Mike Poselay to him, and it seems Mike and Arthur were close at Birmingham, but he lost touch over the years. He is anxious to get in touch, can you help? I have sent contact details. A classic example of what the RPGA is all about, keeping retirees in touch with each other. Do make sure Harry has you’re up to date details!

John has just responded: 'When you sent me contact details for Mike, I dropped him a line and he responded very quickly, my friend here Arthur Littler and I never crossed paths though we were both at Brixton at diﬀerent times; our paths crossed when he visited a Masonic Lodge I’m a member of here in Bangkok. We are both involved in the charity aspect of the craft, much of last year was spent providing respite to locals who were suﬀering from the fall out of the pandemic, no meaningful Government support here. The lack of overseas travel has allowed us to travel within the Kingdom. We have just spent a couple days touring Pranburi, we had not realised that there was such beautiful countryside almost on our doorstep. We are planning to drive down to Phuket next month stopping oﬀ at some towns on the coast of the Andaman Sea, an area that has been rebuilt after being devastated in the 2001 Boxing Day Tsunami; incidentally Ice was in Phuket that day.

As ever your font of contacts has come trumps yet again.'

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A short note from Joan Ozanne, she has had a spell in hospital but is OK now. She is still keenly missing Danny. Always good to hear from Dave Simons, who states, ‘it has not been a good year. Ann has not been well, and I have been a full-time carer. On top of that in July I fell down ﬁve concrete steps in the garden and split my head wide open. Hospital sealed it with superglue! Still had pain in back and sides. Doctor eventually sent me for x-ray and discovered I had a fracture of the hip. Now healing after 6 months. Doctor informs me it will heal with time.’ I replied, ‘I do not have a lot of time left.’ We all feel for you, and also with the sentiment of how much time some of us have left.'

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Colin and Sue Tanswell have kept reasonably well but accept keeping healthy is becoming more of a struggle. They have though avoided the virus but have not been able to travel to Canada to visit their son, due to all the travel restrictions. Whilst on that point we have good friends in Belgium; one was diagnosed with terminal cancer and my daughter wanted to visit her. For yonks we have all been visiting Belgium, often just day trips to visit the duty-free establishments. To my daughter’s annoyance you now required a visa to visit. That entailed obtaining all the paperwork involved, completing it and returning it. No ﬂight could be arranged until a visa was agreed. Fortunately, she made it in time and was able to visit our friend in her nursing home prior to her death a few days later. Now it appears that visits to relatives in nursing home are going to face further restrictions due to staﬀ being oﬀ sick.

A situation that Ron and Sue Curtis unfortunately knew too well; Sue’s mother had to move to a care home in 2020 at the height of Covid, when their visits were curtailed. Fortunately, restrictions eased, and the family were able to visit her regularly which was a blessing after being separated for so long. Her death in February was sad but also a relief and she received superb care in her last days. They sold her house at the end of September. I remember the house well as it was in the short road which was one of the ﬁxed posts when trainees absconded, and Ron always persuade me join him at that post as often as possible, and unknown to me disappeared for a period to visit Sue. Oh, happy memories! Ron comments that it was the grandchildren who were the worst oﬀ with the closure of schools. It was much the same with universities, my grandson went to his Cambridge College last September and his parents were not allowed in the college grounds to unload but had to park in the street and only Luke was allowed to carry his luggage to his room and his parents were not even able to see it. Then they faced virtual lock down for the ﬁrst term and no socialising and only ‘virtual lectures.’ Not the best start to what should have been an exciting new experience.

There was further sadness during the year, as Ron’s elder sister was killed when in September she was stuck by a car whilst she was on a pedestrian crossing. The driver had ignored the red light is to be charged with dangerous driving. They would have been celebrating her 90th Birthday in November. Ron adds, although she had mobility problems, she was still very active socially and mind as bright and sharp as ever. It must have been a shattering loss, and all our thought are with you.

On a more cheerful note, they had a great break in Northumbria, in a superb B&B, and a trip to Holy Island. It really is a magical place for those who have not been and well worth the eﬀort to make the trip. In the early autumn travel restrictions were lifted suﬃciently for Simon and Laura to visit the UK and spend a week with them, and the ‘clan’ in Scotland came down for the weekend. Sue has also found more time for the garden this year and was rewarded with a good crop of vegetables, which we both enjoyed.

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Veronica Bird has had some health problems; she had some pains then a cataract operation. The day after she collapsed and was resuscitated. She phoned the Doctors for an appointment, and was ﬁrmly told there were none, so she was taken to hospital by ambulance and had no idea what was going on. As she says, ‘there is no fun growing old.’ The good news is that by the end of December she was feeling much better and hopes it was all a blip

She has many talks booked and so many more requests, 'I could give them every day, but now I must plan carefully.' Any Donations Veronica receives for giving the talk she gives to charities, including the Shannon Trust and the Butler Trust, and the local Hospice. She hopes 2022 will be good year for us all.

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A lovely homemade Christmas card made by Sheila and news from Jim Blakey; after a bad period when Jim when had a bad spell when all manner of things happened to him, he now feels as well as he has been for a long time. Sheila’s rheumatoid arthritis continues to cause her pain and has now developed

into Lipodernatosclerosis. (One for you to look up in the dictionary.) Apparently, it is not very pleasant

and there is no cure.

They have both spent the majority of time self isolating, so Jim has been able to spend enormous hours in the garden; he misses not having a greenhouse to potter in, but it was one of those things he had to give up as a result of down-sizing. This has resulted in a very fruitful garden season; they only ﬁnished the last of their outdoor tomatoes in last week of November.

They are pleased and proud of how their son’s business is thriving; he can now aﬀord to be selective and thoroughly enjoys his work. One ﬁrm he did a lot of work for had not oﬀered him the kind of support he felt necessary. So, when it was taken over, he decided to resign. They enquired why and he told them straight. They were rather aghast; they asked, if they tackled all the issues would he not resign. They did and he remained and was rewarded with a better contractual arrangement and a 50% increase in fees. Quite an achievement! In addition, the grandsons are both doing equally well; both have just ordered new company cars. Tom, who ordered a Tesla, will have to wait a bit as the delivery time is 6 months!

Jim is still President of the local Bowls Club and enjoying the involvement. The members are a good crowd but a bit apathetic in respect of the total needs of the club so, regrettably, he has to give them the occasional nudge to get things done. He claims that he has not fallen out with any of them to date. Keep well and safe and have a good 2022. He is in regular contact with Jerry Ross who keeping well.

Sheila enclosed this lovely poem and said she will send me more. I felt it so apt for many of our

generation, so with Shelia’s blessing I can share it.

I’M FINE THANK YOU

There is nothing the matter with me,

I‘m as healthy as can be,

I have arthritis in both knees,

And when I talk, I talk with a wheeze,

My Pulse is weak, and my blood is thin.

But I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in.

Arch supports I have for my feet,

Or I wouldn’t be able to be on the street

Sleep is denied me night after night,

But every morning I find I’m all right

My memory is failing, my heads in a spin,

But I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in.

The moral is this as my tale I unfold,

That for you and me who are growing old,

It’s better to say “I’m fine with a grin,

Than to let folks know the shape we are in.

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Some of you might remember Kit Jarman and Catherine Warburton, neither remained in the Service long. They are now Mr and Mrs Jarman, they are both well and hope to hold a celebration to mark Kit’s 50 years as a Priest, many years of it in the Royal Marines, after which he initially retired to Scotland.

He had cancer, received treatment and had tremendous support from the local community. He had in reality to learn to walk again from scratch.

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Gordon MacGowan rather intensively reminiscing about former times, something we all do with pleasure but in perhaps more moderation. Walter MacGowan was a mere 76 in January and lives life to the full, eating and drinking merrily and travelling, but he is looking very well on it all.

The

number

of Governors I remember is dwindling

each

year, soon it will be down to a very few. Just a reminder I am aging as well!

Let’s all hope for a more normal

and

happier 2022.

Bob

As ever please take time to write something that will be of interest to all your retired friends and colleagues and send them to me. Nice short chatty letters will be published in this section of the newsletter longer with more speciﬁc content will be considered for a separate entry in the Newsletter.