NATIONAL POLICE MEMORIAL DAY
Bereaved mother recalls royal encounter during memorial service
A bereaved mother who told Prince Charles his tea was getting cold before ofering to make him a fresh one during a past National Police Memorial Day service says the memorial events make her feel like she is not alone.
D
orothy Ellis, whose 29-year-old Gwent Police officer son died in the line of duty more than 30
years ago said it was “nice to be back” at this year’s memorial day service after last year’s event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s service took place on
Sunday 26 September, the day before the 32nd anniversary of her son Adrian’s death. He died in 1989 in a motorcycle accident. “I’ve been going to the memorial
service since it began back in 2004. Although it was much quieter than usual this year, it was nice to be back,” said 86-year-old Dorothy, whose only child Adrian had dreamed of being a police officer since he was a young boy. “It’s strange but when I sit there at the
service, I look around and I know that all the people around me are going through what I’m going through. I know other people have lost loved ones but those people, at the memorial events, have all lost somebody in uniform. It reassures me I’m not alone. “I intend to go to the memorial
events until I can no longer attend. I do have a slight mobility issue now, but the organisers have told me they’ll get me there, one way or another.” A few years ago, in 2008, Dorothy was
asked to light the candle at the event, before going on to meet HRH Prince Charles.
“I remember,
I told him his tea was getting cold and then I asked him, shall I get you a new one? He replied, no, they’ll bring me one if I need one,” Dorothy recalled. “This year, I
met Priti Patel and Cressida Dick, that’s my latest claim to fame.” Following
Adrian’s death, Dorothy says his friends completed a bike ride across Wales in his honour and she still keeps in regular contact with four of them. “Adrian was a very popular officer,”
Home Secretary Priti Patel spoke to Dorothy Ellis after the service
she said, “And a wonderful son. It was all very sad when he died. We’d heard on the radio – because we always listened to the radio in the morning in bed – that there had been an accident. “It was Adrian’s Dad David’s 60th
birthday. We knew Adrian was out at that time and in that area because we followed his shifts. His wife and a fellow officer, Adrian 2 we call him, pulled up at our house and they didn’t have to say anything, we just knew.” As well as the memorial day service,
Dorothy also attends the UK Police Unity Tour (PUT) cycling event, which raises money for the Care of Police Survivors (COPs) charity, while honouring those officers who have died in the line of duty. “I went over to headquarters to see the boys off this year, then we watched the service virtually – as I was still a bit apprehensive about coronavirus,” added Dorothy. Dorothy said that she kept regularly
updated with how the tour participants were getting on thanks to Gwent Police Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Ian Roberts.
Paying their respects, National Federation Chair John Apter and the Home Secretary
The Home Secretary talks to the family of DC John Coker 15 I POLICE I OCTOBER 2021
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