Contact
Presidential Address Membership Community, Vocational, Youth and Environmental Environmental International Rotary Foundation Fellowship Fund Raising Charitable Trust Fund Club Administration PR, Internet and Other Communications
Where we Meet Future Meetings & Events Completed Meetings & Events Local Events District Events Calendar
Join Us
Galleries Links & News The Club Team Privacy Policy

Speaker Rtn Geoff Kenure - The way we were – supervising offenders in the 1960’s

Wed, Dec 4th 2019 at 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Past President of Bradford Rotary Club Geoff told us about his time at the Probation Service -------- Speaker Finder John Barrow, Visitors Host, Grace and Banners Tony Ashton, Cash Desk Mike Clewes

Geoff Kenure

Geoff gave an interesting talk on the way that the Probation Service had changed during the period he worked for them from the mid 1960's until his retirement in 2003. He said the main reason he had put these details down in writing was so that his children would know what he had done for a living. The project had developed' and he had ended up producing a book which is now available through Amazon (Click this link for details). It is entitled "The heydays for the Independent Probation Officer in England and Wales. 1950's - 1970's" and can be bought as either a print or a Kindle version.

He explained that the service started in 1907 because sentencing was limited to primarily Hanging, Deportation, Jail and Conditional Discharge. Conditional Discharge was not working because offenders quickly forgot that they had the possibility of a double sentence hanging over them so Probation Officers were sought to remind them. The service grew out of the work of church missionaries who had been trying to do this reminder work as well as the efforts of the Temperance Society to stop the overindulgence in alcohol which frequently led to criminal acts.

In its heyday the service was staffed by professionals who were allowed a light touch from the court system so were able to deal with each offender as they individually saw fit. Over the years this has changed with managers being instituted in the 1970's and changing further up to the present date where the supervision of offenders is now very much more prescribed by The Home Office in London.

In giving his talk Geoff interspersed it with several anecdotes of unintentional slip ups that Probation Officers had made when writing up reports on offenders for the courts. Below are a few examples: -

  1. The father works for British Rail, but his son has come off the raius.
  2. John wants to become a motor mechanic, so I've got him a job as a butcher's apprentice.
  3. Talking about an assault at a funeral the Probation officer said that this gave him grave concern.
  4. This young man is now concentrating on servicing his motorbike and his girlfriend.

John BarrowContact John Barrow about this page:

(ALL fields required)

(If you are a Rotarian, please name your club.)

'What We Do' Main Pages:

President Muhammad Atif

This is the page for the President's thoughts for his year of office.

more  

This committee is responsible for finding new members and retaining existing members.

more  

This committee deals with all local projects in our community.

more  

Coming under Community this part of the group exists to undertake environmental projects on behalf of the club.

more  

This committee deals with international projects and disaster relief work.

more  

This committee provides the link with Rotary Internationals main charitable trust which primarily deals with projects having a global nature.

more  

Rotary is not just about doing good deeds but also about enjoying yourself and this committee organises social activities. This page contains an archive of some of our activities.

more  

This committee works with the other committees to help them raise funds for their individual projects to support charities locally, nationally and internationally.

more  

This is the vehicle that donates the money that we have raised to the various good causes that we support. Its official name is The Rotary Club Of Bradford Blaize Trust Fund and its registered number with the Charity Commission is 514621.

more  

This committee organises social events and deals with the day to day running of the club.

more  

This committee exists to provide PR and communications between the members and also to provide links to non members through the web site and Facebook.

more