The April 19 AGM business completed, we were presented with the adventures of a police helicopter observer. Adrian Bleese, with the showmanship of a stand-up performer spent just over an hour captivating  us with the ups and downs, the swoops and hovers, the chases and the rescues of his time as one of a handful of the civilian air observers – anywhere in the world.

His twelve years with the Suffolk Constabulary and later the National Police Air Service (NPAS) were outlined in amusing and fascinating detail. His claim to have had the best job in the world was held up by the unreserved delight in which he addressed the riveted audience. We heard accounts which surprised, reassured and  worried us in equal measure; from the story of the car chase to Walberswick  with all cars in pursuit, when the felon eluded capture by swimming across the River Blythe to Southwold; to the many successful searches for ‘mispers’ or missing persons and ultimately to the sad aerial coverage decline in Suffolk by reforms made by NPAS.

Adrian had a memoir to sell and he made a very impressive job of doing so. His presentation indicated what is revealed more fully in the book as being a thoroughly enjoyable read. Although this was only hinted at in his talk, the chapter in which he examines the nature of observation and his interpretation of the manner in which he feels the brain adapts and adjusts during the process of developing a rewiring of one’s seeing is remarkable. He quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson reflecting on the effects of detailed observation: ‘The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions’.

I think our speaker managed to stretch our audience at the AGM and they departed to wine and nibbles bearing new insights and admiration for both the Constabulary and for Adrian Bleese.

Tony Marsden

Photograph: Society Chairman John Norman with Adrian Bleese, author of the book Above the Law

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