Weekly Meeting

Retired police officer, Lisa Farrand, gave members of the Rotary Club of Ossett an insightful and enjoyable account of her career. Lisa described what is was like being a WPC when she joined the West Yorkshire Police at Calderdale in 1988, including the skirt, jumper and handbag that constituted the uniform at that time! She soon moved on to become Community Beat Officer in the suburbs of Halifax where poor education, drug abuse and racism were rife. Lisa spent 16 years in this role during which time she learnt Urdu in order to communicate with Asian women, whom she soon realised were ‘the font of all knowledge’. Lisa taught English to the women, set up support groups and educational projects. She helped found an Asian women’s refuge centre and instigated ‘hate crime’ reporting. In 2001 Lisa was awarded the highly prestigious Queen’s Police Medal, which she received from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. In addition Lisa was awarded 3 further medals.

Lisa retired from the force 3 years ago after receiving serious injuries whilst undertaking her duties but was contacted by Sally Wainwright, the writer of the TV series Happy Valley, who is an old school friend. Sally wanted a TV series that was true to life and Lisa is the role model for the Happy Valley lead character, Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire. Many of the stories are based on the experiences of Lisa Farrand.

The vote of thanks for such an interesting and inspiring speech was given by Rotarian Cyril Stubbings.