David Russell 2020/2021

It is with great sadness that the Old Barrovians Association reports the death of President David Russell. He died in March 2022 with complications from heart surgery.

Here are some words he penned about himself on becoming Association President in 2020:

I was born in Barrow in 1948; at first I lived in Devon Street and
moved to Roose Road at the corner of Devon Street when I was 10.

I attended Sacred Heart Primary School when I was a member of the
cub pack so when I came to BBGS in 1960, I joined the 18th Scouts.

I left BBGS in 1965 and after brief spell at Vickers Training School, I
joined the Lancashire Constabulary as a police cadet based at
Ulverston then at Dalton. At that time Barrow still had its own
Borough Police Force.

In 1967 I was appointed a constable and after training was
posted to Bacup, at that time a dirty little cotton mill town in East
Lancashire, it’s much brighter now and the people are the salt of the
earth. When I first arrived, a seasoned constable said to me, “Bacup
is like chewing gum, if it sticks to you, you will never get rid of it.”

Although in 1973 I transferred to Swinton and in 1979 to Salford, I
bought a house in Bacup in 1980, next door to good friends and I
still live here with my wife. I retired in 1997 still as a constable.

In 1986, I married Lynda, a native of Worsley, who worked as a
typist at the main police station in Salford. We were married at the
now demolished St Luke’s Church in Barrow. We have no children.
Since retiring, I have not worked except in a voluntary
capacity for several organisations.

I was a volunteer on the East Lancashire Railway for many years latterly as a signalman until I
reached the age of 70. I am still a volunteer guide at Hoghton Tower, a fortified Elizabethan manor house between Preston and Blackburn. When I retired I joined the Salford Branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers. I was Branch Secretary for 14 years from 2004 until 2018 and I am now Branch
Chairman and Welfare Officer.

R.I.P. David