Police force recreates 1953 Coronation photo

The Museum of Policing in Cheshire arranged the shoot to mark the Coronation

A police force has recreated a photograph taken for the late queen's coronation 70 years on in honour of King Charles III's Coronation.

The King and Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be crowned in Westminster Abbey on Saturday.

Cheshire Constabulary replicated the 1953 image taken at Arpley Street, Warrington, which is now the Museum of Policing in Cheshire.

The museum, which organised the photoshoot, described it as "history in the making".

The original photo, which is displayed in the museum, was taken to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and featured officers from Warrington Borough Police.

Back then there were 142 officers in the force - 137 men and just five women.

Seven decades on, about 100 officers and staff from what is now a county force posed in the same spot to commemorate the King's Coronation.

Warrington Borough Police merged with Lancashire Constabulary in 1969 before Warrington became part of Cheshire under boundary changes in 1974 and went on to became a county force.

There were only five women police officers when the 1953 image was taken

Chief Constable Mark Roberts said was important to "capture this moment in time" and mark the Coronation.

“Policing has changed in many ways since 1953 and this photo shows all the different units we now have.

"Despite some things in policing changing, in many ways it is still the same. The core elements have all stayed the same – we just had a bit of added complexity reflected in this picture.”

Retired PC and volunteer manager of the museum, Peter Hampson, said: “There are not many police forces in the country that could do what we have been able to do – take a photograph outside the same police station 70 years later."

He said a comparison of the two images showed how the force had progressed.

“We have all sorts of diverse departments now with crime scene investigators, dog handlers and traffic officers which we didn’t have back in 1953.

“I think recreating this photograph is good for posterity. It is history in the making.”