My entry and exit from The City of Glasgow Police
Wed, Sep 6th 2023 at 12:40 pm - 2:00 pm
James Yule from the Kilrymont Club gave a personal talk.
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The speaker was Rotarian James
Yule from the Kilrymont Rotary Club. His subject was ‘My entry and exit
from the City of Glasgow Police’ explained how his time as Constable
James Yule C241 Eastern Division was a significant chapter in his life.
Having left school at 15 without qualifications he became a cleaner on
the railway and then a fireman. He met his future wife Margaret and
began, with her help, a correspondence course, passed the written test
and, aged 23, applied for the police, but was turned down when he
failed the medical. He took up boxing to lose weight and get fit, then
passed his entrance. However he was called in by the Chief Constable to
explain why he hadn’t admitted to a criminal conviction (as a 10-year
old he had been caught playing cards with his pals, been convicted,
fined 10 shillings or a week in jail -his father’s reaction ‘Do the
time’! It was not a serious offence but he should have reported it in
his application……..His duties as constable were challenging in Glasgow's
Duke Street station, which was followed by 6 months training at
Tulliallan where he came out 3rd in class. In 1964, his salary at £620
per annum, he and Margaret married. Married life was not easy for a
young woman with a police husband working shifts and in 1968 James
resigned on a salary of £865 per annum. Their son David was born in 1969
and James got a job selling cream around the district, a job in which
he flourished for 21 years. By coincidence he later met the Chief
Constable and discovered he was now earning much more than his previous
boss! James described one of the worst things about being in the police
was having to tell a family one of their own had been killed. A serious
talk told with humour……Bette Hunter gave the vote of thanks.