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Hobby cures his hangup Shoulder flash collection on display in Police Week By Roy Downs What started out as a cure a hangup has turned Into a rewarding hobby for Larry Kneale of Milton About two years ago Kneale decided to force himself to overcome one of his own little hangups he HATED having to write letters so he started couldnt go everywhere collec ting these pieces of police regalia he bad to sit down and write letters In order to build up the collection Today hes not only profoundly cured of his hangup he ac tually ENJOYS writing letters And he has a fabulous collection of between and police shoulder flashes as well as a couple of hundred hat badges and other items of police regalia from around the world Some In store Most of Knealea collection is on display this week at the Milton headquarters on Ave in Milton as part of Police Week celebrations Some of his more Interesting flashes half a unique police hats and some unusual foreign police regalia are on display In the window of Bus Knfghts Mens Wear on Main St His dislike for writing letters Is long forgotten now He especially enjoys corresponding with policemen the continent and around the world because most of them have been so cooperative and friendly Whenever have half an hour I type out a few letters he Sometimes I get a bit with my correspondence and have to set aside half a day to get caught up He has a fairly standard tetter he Bends out asking the recipient to send him a shoulder flash He offers to reciprocate either with another shoulder flash or sufficient funds to cover the cost Most either send one free or ask for an flash in return few want the cash He has received some unusual requests from his newfound friends around the world such as a pair of tickets to the Calgary Stampede Some promise to visit him if they ever come to this area Some of his correspondents are fellow collectors who swap duplicates for some of Cpl Knealos duplicates Courtesy pays off To date Cpl Kneale figures he has written an average of four or five letters a day since he started his collection He answers each reply even if its a negative reply and theres a little story there too One chief constable from the City of London police force wrote in answer to his request for a shoulder flash that It was im possible to send one It was a nice tetter so Cpl Kneale wrote an extra nice note back thanking the chief for taking the lime and trouble to answer his request even though he was unable to help A few weeks later a plate from a City of London Police constables helmet arrived In the mail with a letter explaining the London chief was so Impressed at his polite reply he decided he could spare the helmet plate as a girt The collecting corporal has a complete collection of the police shoulder flashes currently In use in Ontario all 160 of them plus many which are no longer in use He also has one from each of the United States state police forces and these along with an OPP and RCMP flash arc mounted on a map of North America Flashes from Mexico and the Canal Zone ore shown on the same display His collection includes OPP regalia back to the IBMs and Includes one of the first cap badges the provincial police force ever issued On 4h e Whenever he travels Cpl usually comes home with some new regalia to add to his collection He once met a sherlfr In a Florida city who wasted no time answering his request for a memento the sheriff gave him his shirt and the cap off his head right there on the spot Friends who travel are always bringing home souvenirs to add to the collection loo Kneale mokes sure the donor gets a letter His helmet collection includes several from Great Britain one from West Germany a Bavarian cap a while pith helmet from the Bahamas and a motorcycle patrolmans helmet from California The shoulder flashes mounted on half a dozen large display boards in patterns or groupings include Hems from Japan Vietnam Thailand India Pakistan Great Britain Scan dinavia Africa Israel Palestine Italy and USSR He has several from South American countries and most areas of Europe are covered in the colorful collection of shoulder patches From Rush I a One of the more rare pieces is a flash from the KGB the Russian security police Cpl Kneale says the variety of shoulder flashes now In use In Ontario will some day disappear to be blended Into one common style that would be standard across the province When that happens his complete collection of Ontario flashes will be more valuable lo him Asked to place a value on his collection the corporal modestly replied he preferred not It out It would be hod estimate the dollar value and he not interested anyway because the collection means lot more to him than dollars and This is not marathon Just a leisure hobby but It is certainly interesting he said It sure helped me get over my hangup about correspondence And I found It to be most rewarding in the friendship you find between police officers in all parts of the world Baptisms on Mothers Day By Mrs Ron McLean Next Sunday May 20 at Betty Griffiths will be the speaker at a special anniversary service commemorating ISO years since services were first held In the community Mrs Griffiths is the widow of the late Rev Ken Griffiths a former minister She is to be ordained as a United Church minister on the following Sunday A social lime is planned after the service Mothers Day 14 year old Sandra Early resided at the organ on Mothers MacMlllan and Sandra sang Happiness Is Lynn Susan daughter of Mr and Mrs Murray Fatt and John Douglas son of Mr and Mrs John were bap tized Mr topic was Home Again He stressed that It is impossible for adults to go home as when one Is grown childhood things take on a different aspect GUNSMITH Harley of Centre checks out a Savage 250 rifle part of the collection of antique arms belonging to Graham Johnson of Stoney Creek The Johnson family including wife Judy and son John attended Sundays Halton Antique Arms Association show in the community centre D Gibbons photo name executive The Acton Free Press Wednesday May 1973 First executive was elected at the meeting of he Georgetown Adult Handicapped and Friends club May 3 at Harrison school Jim Murphy was elected Boss No Erie Bafkind Boss No Sandy Symmes and Jack Wilde secretarytreasurer The group also underwent a change of name They are now the a short form for Ihe phrase We Help Ourselves A rousing card playing tour nament and refreshments followed the business session The hope to provide their members with varied social activities combined with outlets for community service projects The next meeting Is May 17 at Morrison school Information may be obtained from Peggy Charles St George town JUST 3 DAYS LEFT TO SHE IN THE GIGANTIC MASTER FEEDS SPRING SALE RR2 Georgetown SHOULDER FLASHES from police and miscellaneous other police regalia is forces around the world make an on display this week at the Milton OPP Interesting and rewarding hobby for detachment headquarters in Milton as Larry Kneale of Milton His part of Police Week celebrations collection of between 600 and 700 Photo by R Downs shoulder flashes about 200 cap badges OUR READERS WRITE Chairman clarifies ball park remarks A Eden Mills Ont To The Editor I wish to correct the report given In this weeks Free Press on the proceedings of the A Recreation Committee A motion was put that the committee recommend to the township council that the four lots adjacent the ball v park be purchased for I did not 5 support the motion because I felt the money would be better spent on another ball park to replace the one lost with the sale of the 6 Pour Corners school I did not suggest that the money be spent on the Eden Mills park which is quite adequate In size and was not cleared up by the SWEEP program last year I did however point out that there Is park land available within Eden Mills which has river frontage that could possibly be bought for a lot less than and If such funds were available to the township then such alternatives should be considered Yours faithfully Show prizes to owned by M D Wlngrove of Campbellville and Jeffrey Nurse of Georgetown were in the prize money at the Ontario Holstein Spring Show at Stratford Some animals were paraded by exhibitors before a capacity crowd of close to 1500 people many from foreign countries A entry won the bull calf class while Nurses entries took third in senior and fouryearold heifer in milk classes A 4 NT WATER AT ACTON HYDRO 41AUCETREET KEEPING AN EYE on the PURSE STRINGS IS EASY when youre the owner of an ECONOMICAL PINTO CALL Glenn Holmes AT L FORD DAYS WIGHTS Mustang Demo Miles Auto AM Radio CUSP LIGHT BULBS or SUGG YOUR CHOICE MATE am pocket radio MD SPBCIAL FOR 1 JUST IN THI AMD I or mown axon mum VAIUO AT 149 EA FOR FORM INDIVIDUALLY WELL GIVE YOU GREAT SERVICE TOGETHER WELL GIVE YOU GREAT PRICES ACTON PHARMACY Main St N 8531620 GLENLEA DRUG MART 294 Queen St E 8532220