Writing about my mother's stories of the Somerset Constabulary in the 1950s, and of one PC Bodger in particular, the other day, I said:
And there was his finest hour: the opening of the Chew Valley Reservoir.
The stories of his controlling the crowds with a megaphone - "Make way for Her Majesty the Queen" and "You boys! Stop playing with your balls there in the street" - went round the force.
And here, wonderfully, is a film incorporating extensive colour footage of that day, 17 April 1956. Click on the still above to go to YouTube and play the whole thing.
There are plenty of policemen in the background, though I can't claim to have spotted Bodger and his megaphone.
You can see Jacob Rees-Mogg's granny being presented to the Queen, however.
It seems the reservoir was called Chew Valley Lake right from the start, so that's what I have called it here.
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