I have been trolling through the museum collection of photographs again and come across this impressive shot of police transport.
The registration on the motor-cycles is ‘H’ making the year of issue 1969. But of course no guarantee this photograph was not taken later.
Can you tell us where the photograph was taken? What was the occasion?
If you have any ideas, please leave a comment below.
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Looks like the cricket ground, but only a guess!
Could it be the county cricket ground at Hove?
Could very well be the cricket ground as the others have said. I did think it may be the Racestand on the Race Hill initially.
Could it have been connected with the end of ‘Brighton’ policing and the merger with Sussex police? Just a thought.
H reg was 1 August 1969 – 1 July 1970. All these bikes have succeeding numbers so perhaps Sussex Police had just acquired this batch of shiny new police motorbikes? Brighton Police was taken over by Sussex Police in 1964. My first thought was that this was the Greyhound Stadium. I’m not convinced it’s the cricket ground, but neither venue has matching buildings in the background.
I tend to agree with Peter, Janet and Carol about it being the County Ground in Hove. It was my first thought too. Towering above the main stand in the central background is what appears to be a strangely angled block of flats. I think this could well be Drive Lodge in The Drive, Hove which is in fact two roads away, Wilbury Road being between the Drive and the County Ground. The rooftops and chimney stacks of the properties in Wilbury Road can also be seen.
I think its the Dog Track.
Is that not a covered cricket scoreboard in the background? It appears to have 1 to 11 plus an S (for “Substitute” perhaps), with a light above each one.
My first thought also, the cricket ground.
If it was the cricket ground, it could be one of the shows they used to put on at the ‘Donkey Derby’ days. There would be all sorts of displays just like this one.
If you examine the chimney pots in the background, they don’t match with those of houses in the Greyhound Stadium area, they do match with those of the Cricket Ground area.
They lost their white helmets when they became Sussex police.Such a shame. The white helmets looked so much smarter.
The photograph was taken at the Hove Cricket Ground to mark the 1968 Sussex Police Amalgamation. Sgt Frank Morgan (formally of Brighton Borough Police) is leading the motorcycle parade. I have a similar photo to the one shown – which I spoke about with Frank several years ago when we met at a Police reunion. He recently died at the age of 93 years. He was a friend and former work colleague. I’m a retired Sussex detective chief inspector.
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