Marking the 25th Anniversary of the British Transport Police withdrawal from the nationalised docks & ports
In June 2010, in celebration of this event, a month-long, highly successful exhibition of police photographs was organised by Viv Head. It was held in a gallery at the Norwegian Church in what is now the waterfront at Cardiff Bay.
The Norwegian Church was built in1868 and used by generations of seafaring seamen from Scandinavia. It has been refurbished and moved from its original site in the heart of the docks and now stands beside the Capt. Scott memorial. Little used after the 1960s and semi-derelict, it became the haunt of local miscreants and was often visited by the police. It was therefore, the perfect venue for the exhibition.
The exhibition was opened on the 1st June 2010. Amongst those present was the Area Commander of the Wales & Western Area, Chief Superintendent Peter Davies. In preparing for the exhibition it was particularly pleasing to receive funding from the British Transport Police, the British Transport Police Federation and Associated British Ports who now operate the docks once policed by BTP.
No longer a church, the upstairs room is a dedicated gallery space and was eminently suitable for the exhibition. Fifty-five framed photographs filled it nicely. With an unexpected level of interest, visitors came from all over the world. Quite a number had either served themselves at some point or had relatives who had. According to the centre manager, it had they highest number of visitors of any exhibition ever held there.
One of the 55 photos exhibited shows Cardiff MP and then Home Secretary, James Callaghan, opening the new police station at Cardiff Docks in 1968. A lot of senior officers somehow found the time to be present as you can see. The building no longer exists, having been swept away in the modern redevelopment.