The Cambridgeshire PUT team.
Cambridgeshire Police Federation chair Liz Groom admits it was a very emotional moment when she joined more than 500 other riders in this year’s Police Unity Tour (PUT) to ride into the National Memorial Arboretum ahead of Sunday’s annual Care of Police Survivors (COPS) Service of Remembrance.
Liz, who first rode in the PUT seven years ago, plans to retire next year but decided she wanted to complete the ride just one more time.
The tour involves police officers, staff and supporters cycling from forces across England and Wales in a three-day ride to the arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire. The Cambridgeshire team set off from Force Headquarters at 9am on Friday and reached Drayton Manor Park near Tamworth on Saturday so they could join up with other PUT chapters to ride en masse to the COPS service on Sunday morning.
The Cambridgeshire contingent was made up of 11 riders, including Chief Constable Nick Dean who, like Liz, wanted to complete the PUT ahead of his retirement and together they have raised £9,200 so far.
“The Police Unity Tour is one of the highlights of the policing year and has two key aims – to raise awareness of our fallen colleagues and to raise funds for COPS, the charity dedicated to helping their families rebuild their lives,” said Liz.
‘It’s a cause that means a huge amount to me so it was a very emotional moment to ride into the arboretum at the end of the tour, knowing how much it meant to everyone at COPS but also to all those who have found its support so critical.”
Each cyclist taking part in the PUT wears a specially engraved wristband dedicated to the memory of a police officer who has died in the line of duty.
Liz’s was dedicated to Cambridgeshire PC Andy Newbery who was 34 when he died on 5 February 2003 after suffering multiple injuries when he was struck by a passing car as he prepared to protect the scene of an earlier accident. She also rode in memory of – and wore a band for – retired Detective Sergeant Liz Cooper, a colleague and friend, who passed away on 26 June after a brave battle with cancer. She had only retired 14 months previously.
“Andy was also not only a police colleague, he was also a friend so it was a particular honour to be able to ride in his memory and to also remember Liz Cooper,” Liz explained, “As we rode into the arboretum at the end of the tour, I was thinking about Andy, but also about all the colleagues and friends we have lost over the years.
“Riding in, you are greeted by the families of fallen officers and it’s clear to see how grateful they are to all the riders who take part in the Police Unity Tour.”
With the 530 PUT cyclists safely within the arboretum, Gill Marshall, the COPS national president, welcomed the congregation, including chief officers, Federation representatives, policing stakeholders and those who had completed the Police Unity Tour (PUT), to the service. which featured music from the West Midlands Police Brass Band and its vocalist Superintendent Sam Batey who sang two songs.
Having lost her own police officer husband in 2006, Gill reassured the families of fallen officers at the service that their sacrifice is never forgotten despite the day-to-day challenges of policing.
Gill read out the roll of honour, remembering the officers who had died in the last year:
Acting Sergeant Reece Buckenham of Hertfordshire Police who died on 29 June 2024;
DC Karen Smith of Humberside Police who died on 18 December 2024;
PC Rosie Prior of North Yorkshire Police who died on 11 January 2025;
PC Michael Bruce of the Metropolitan Police who died on 14 June 2025, and
PC Ian Minett of Gloucestershire Constabulary who died on 21 June 2025.
The roll of honour was followed by a minute’s silence.
Three family members who had lost a police officer also gave their own readings.
Laurie Murphy talked about the impact the death of her father – Dyfed Powys DC Roger Meyrick – in 1990 had on her. She was 16 at the time and had a sister who was 13 and a brother who was 9.
Roger was 37 when he died in a head-on car crash with a lorry while he was on surveillance training, which also claimed the lives of three other Dyfed Powys officers.
Fiona Deans, sister of PC Peter Deans, 25, of Avon and Somerset Police, told of the effect it had on her when her brother died with colleague PC Jonathan Stapley on 29 December 1984 when they were in a road accident during a police chase.
She said it could be ‘just as hard, just as tough’ to lose an officer when you were a sibling, and welcomed the support of the COPS siblings group and the charity generally.
The third family member to speak was Susan Gibson, the daughter of Sergeant Edward Thomson of Strathclyde Police. He was 41 when he died on 13 January 1982 after a road accident. Susan, who was 21, had been a nurse at the time and remembered going to the hospital to see him after the accident and expecting him to survive. But sadly he died from catastrophic injuries to his chest.
During the service, wreaths were laid by for the Office of the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire, the High Sheriff of Staffordshire, the Home Office, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing, the Blue Knights, the Police Unity Tour and COPS.
West Yorkshire Chief Constable John Robins, a COPS trustee, closed the service.
He said: “We all know COPS was survivor initiated and survivor led, it will also always be survivor focussed.”
Chief Constable Robins also thanked everyone involved in the remembrance service, paying tribute to families who he said had faced ‘unimaginable loss’ but stood united and proud in memory of their loved ones.
After the service, families and other guests made their way to The Beat, an avenue of trees dedicated to individual forces and officers to lay wreaths and single red roses.
Next year’s COPS service will be held at the National Memorial Arboretum on Sunday 9 August.
Some members of the Cambridgeshire team had their own JustGiving pages to boost the overall total they raised but you can still make a donation via the group’s overall JustGiving page.
