International Police Association - Lothian and Borders Branch

For a change (I should have been at the Regular meeting of Lodge Dalhousie Bonnyrigg No 720) I decided to attend the Branch meeting of the Lothian and Borders section of The International Police Association ( I.P.A.) which I joined in 1966. I say "for a change" which is not quite right as I have never been to a meeting for years although I am an avid reader of their magazine "Police World" and pay attention to their regular "minutes" and as happened recently entertained a couple of German Officers. It comes to mind that the former G.M. of the Eden Resort and Spa, Sri Lanka, Tilak, was a member also. He has since moved on to head up a special projects and development team for the hotel chain in Sri Lanka.

Anyway, I did go to the meeting held in the Police Club, 28 York Place, Edinburgh, and met up with a couple of former colleagues who I had not seen for a while. The Lothian and Borders Branch is the busiest section in Scotland for visiting Officers so the Reception Secretary is kept busy meeting officers from all over the World.

There was correspondence from Japan last night where we heard that two IPA members there had been killed in the recent earthquake and a further two member officers were still missing.

Similarly there was aid and assistance being given to the IPA Branch in Christchurch, New Zealand which also suffered from an earthquake.