Ninety two members attended the November monthly meeting at New Road Methodist Church, when Rosemary Prosser brought home to us the extent of the changes in policing styles and practices since the early seventies in a talk titled, “From tights to trousers”.

Rosemary joined the Worcestershire police force in 1970, starting with a 14 week course where she was the only female trainee in the group.

The course included collecting a brick from the bottom of a pond, how to make beds according to the regulations and of course, how to march as a member of a group.

In those first years, Rosemary had to wear black tights, but after the Equal Opportunities Act had come into force her uniform included black trousers, just like her male colleagues.

Like them, she was issued with a truncheon which she showed us.

One of the many rules was never to hit anyone over the head, but fortunately Rosemary never had to use hers.

Her first posting was to Evesham.

As her career progressed she rose to the rank of sergeant and was stationed in Worcester, where she dealt with sexual offences and difficult situations involving children and problem families.