Monday, 06 February 2006

PRESS RELEASE

Norman Biggs, Chairman of the Peel Society brandishing the new acquisition.

Chief Inspector John White and Norman Biggs admiring the police hanger.

The Peel Society celebrated the close of the second season of the display of their collection of Peel memorabilia at Middleton Hall with a luncheon on Sunday in the Great Hall.

Norman Biggs, the Chairman, took the opportunity to show the members and their guests the latest acquisition, which will go on show at Easter 2006 when the Hall re-opens.  This is a mid- Victorian police "hanger" or sword.  When Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police went onto the streets of London in 1829, the "Bobbies" were armed with these formidable weapons.

It was particularly appropriate for Norman to show this latest acquisition as the guest speaker was Chief Inspector John White of the West Midlands Police.  He is Commander of the WM Police at Birmingham Airport and Secretary of the Waterloo Committee.  The Waterloo Committee is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the site of the Battlefield of Waterloo, near Brussels, Belgium.  John is a keen historian of the years between 1770 and 1820.  He gave a most interesting talk on the pressures on the battlefield site from the expansion of Brussels and French tourism.  A French company owns the franchise to exploit the site, so the interpretation is biased in favour of Napoleon.

Chief Inspector White presented the Peel Society with a print of Sir Robert Peel from his collection.

Members of the Peel Society were interested in his comments as they visited the battlefield on June 18^th 2005, the 190^th anniversary of the battle that gave Britain 99 years of peace with their Continental neighbours.

End