Back to base for former bobbies

A pair of ex-Angus bobbies have walked back along a familiar beat in a trip down memory lane from half a century ago.

As young constables in 1968, Gordon Forbes and Tom Baird were the first officers to be stationed in the new Muirhead police office in Liff Road.

Both are now in their 70s and retired from successful police careers which saw Gordon become a sergeant and Tom rise to the rank of inspector.

However, the pair have made a poignant personal return to their old place of work to say goodbye in case it disappears forever.

Muirhead is looking for a new owner after being put on the market by Police Scotland.

Gordon, a former Dundee Citizen of the Year, said they had fond memories of the village office.

“We were the first constables at Muirhead and the then Sergeant Tom Deas occupied the house immediately next to the station,” he said.

In that era of Angus Constabulary, the Birkhill section also took in communities including Tealing, Auchterhouse and Newtyle.

“This station is going to go and it’s very sad,” said Gordon.

“I didn’t expect to see a police station opened in 1968 to close and be sold off in my time but we’re living in a different era of policing.”

Earlier this year, the outcome of a consultation exercise led to a Police Scotland recommendation that a host of unused buildings across the country should be ditched, including the old police offices in Muirhead, Friockheim and Letham which are surplus to requirements.

Gordon Forbes and Tom Baird at their old Muirhead office.