Martyn Johnson - Whats Tha Up to This Time?. More Memories of a Sheffield Bobby

DEDICATION

In memory of

Rick Hardwick, John Longbottom and Graham Glover, three of the best coppers and good mates that a man could ever wish to work with.

Todd your dad would be proud of you.

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Pen & Sword True Crime
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Martyn Johnson 2014

ISBN 978 1 47382 766 0

eISBN 9781473841109

The right of Martyn Johnson to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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Foreword

by Detective Sergeant Jim Fletcher (retired)

Unlike Martyn, who is a Barnsley lad through and through, I was born and bred in Sheffield. I first met Martyn in the very early 1960s as we had both joined the Sheffield City Police Force within months of each other, he was serving in the east end C Division (Attercliffe) and I was in the south D Division (Woodseats). Our beats met at Manor Top and we shared Elm Tree Section Station, a fairly recent addition to the force, as in those days we still used those little wooden police boxes (Tardiss) which we worked from on many of our beats.

In those days we certainly didnt police for the money, the pay was very poor. We were just ordinary working-class guys who did it because we cared about people and our communities. We also had fun because of colleagues like Martyn to work with and who could make anyone laugh. Our paths crossed on many occasions, not least when in 1966 we were on a civil defence exercise called a Police Mobile Column, which is mentioned in his first book, Whats Tha Up To? Because of the likes of Martyn, we were able to have a good laugh from start to finish even though we were put on stand-by to attend the Aberfan disaster when a school full of children was unfortunately buried under a mountain of pit spoil.

It is only in recent years that we have met up again, mainly through the many entertaining and funny talks he gives to local organizations. Martyn is a thoroughly nice guy and a born raconteur; and I find his books extremely entertaining and a damned good read they certainly bring back memories.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to you, the reader, my first two books Whats Tha Up To? and Whats Tha Up To Nah? are still doing very well. As a result of your fantastic response and wonderful comments received by letter, phone, email and Amazon reviews I have been urged to continue writing whilst I am still breathing.

As well as thanking your good selves I must also thank my faithful pal and editor Brian Elliott and the staff of Pen and Sword Books in Barnsley. Thanks must also go to George, Rachel and Romily of Capel and Land for having faith in me.

Thanks to Jim Fletcher for his kind words in the Foreword to this book; and also to his wife Janet Fletcher.

Id like to mention the family of Maurice Hodgson (see ). His sons Ian and Mark and his grandson Gareth have all taken after Maurice and they all have a deep love of the countryside and have gone on to be part or full-time gamekeepers; and not forgetting Ians wife Jane who is a country girl at heart.

My thanks go to Mick and Beryl Tissington, and Bob and Eileen Clarkson with whom I have enjoyed some great times in the Force.

My thanks to my old friends Derek and Gilly Gennard, John and Susan Parramore, Peter and June Jacques, Andy and Debbie Smith, Nick and Janet Kenworthy, Malc and Paula Peat.

Thanks also to three of my supporters, the happy, smiley, and beautiful cashiers at HSBC Bank in Sheffield: Gillian Deakin, Nicky De-Vall and Carole Mortimer. Thanks to neighbours Dave and Sharron.

Thanks also to my new found friends Kieran McGrath, Gareth Thomas, Les Jones (Chesterfield) and his cousin Freda Killingbeck; also Patricia and Lawrence Mills, who I used to have a pot of tea with at their haulage firm on Woodburn Road, and Steve Beasley from Hebden Bridge. Not forgetting the hundreds of other people who have contacted me not just from this country but, unbelievably, from many countries across the world, too many for me to list here thank you all. My thanks also go to Emily Walker of Barnsley for her lovely letter and Barbara and Brian Towse.

It is also important for me to mention Sally and Todd Glover, the wife and son of my very good friend and colleague Graham who died too young. Graham left my family and me with a host of wonderful memories and he will never be forgotten.

Last but by no means least thanks a million to my wonderful wife Christine who, luckily for me, has the patience to transcribe, make sense of my handwriting (which is in capital letters) and type it all out. I couldnt have done it without her. Love you loads.

CHAPTER 1

All Mouth and Trousers

What a cracking day. Nice and relaxing, just what I needed, knowing that tomorrow would be the complete opposite. At 9am on Monday I was to become a detective in the tough and grimy industrial east end of Sheffield called Attercliffe. Sitting on the grass with my back to a pheasant pen and a flask of tea at the side of me, I munched on an apple whilst surveying the outside of the massive building some 50 yards in front of me.

The afternoon sun was red hot and its rays were shining on the thousands of sandstone blocks and the many windows that together, made up the largest house in England, bigger even than Buckingham Palace and 660 feet long. The present Wentworth Woodhouse had been built in several stages, starting in 1723 and, during the centuries, both before and since that date many distinguished people had lived there.

The Earl of Strafford was a notable occupant and was a valued advisor of King Charles 1st. He was made 1st Earl of Wentworth but unfortunately he wasnt as valued as he at first thought because King Charles subsequently had his head chopped off at the Tower of London in 1641. The king had his comeuppance though, as he himself suffered the same fate shortly afterwards. What must the people of Wentworth have thought when that happened?

Then in the twentieth century there was Peter 8th Earl Fitzwilliam who was, by all accounts, quite a Jack the Lad in his day. His best friends were village teenagers and they got up to all sorts of tricks. He must have raised quite a few eyebrows in his time. A sad ending was in store for the poor 8th Earl when, during an illicit weekend away with Kathleen (Kit) Kennedy, the plane in which they were travelling crashed in the mountains in France and both of them were tragically killed.

I was musing over the many events that befell the Fitzwilliams when my daydreaming about what life must have been like in and around the Big House, over the centuries was brought to an abrupt stop.