New Year Honours 2023: Ex-police officer Eric Hopes, 90, gets BEM

Eric Hopes, BEM is "enormously proud" to be honoured, he said

A 90-year-old who served with the police for 50 years and still helps run the force's museum has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours for 2023.

Eric Hopes, from Bury St Edmunds, joined Suffolk Police at 17, in 1949, reaching the rank of superintendent.

The third generation officer still volunteers at the police museum.

"I am enormously proud - I really, really am," he said, on being recognised for services to policing.

"When I left school, I joined as a cadet.

"My grandfather joined Suffolk Police in 1889, and my father joined in 1920.

"So there are Hopes throughout the history of the force."

Chief Constable Rachel Kearton with Eric Hopes outside Suffolk Police headquarters at Martlesham Heath near Ipswich

Mr Hopes initially joined the former East Suffolk Police, serving in that force and then Suffolk Constabulary until he retired in 1988.

During that time he served for six years with the Cyprus and Nyasaland (now Malawi) police forces between 1957 and 1963.

After retiring as an officer he continued to work for Suffolk Police as a member of its civilian support staff for 10 years as the firearms' licensing officer.

"I volunteered at a hospice in Ipswich for some time after that, then I heard that the police museum needed help, so I became a volunteer in 2015 and I'm still doing that at 90 - I'm both proud and pleased to still be doing something," Mr Hopes said.

Old photographs fill the museum

The museum exhibits document the history of policing in Suffolk

As part of his volunteer duties at the museum at the force's Martlesham Heath headquarters, Mr Hopes often attends the homes of recently deceased police officers, meeting their families and pledging to ensure their loved one's memory is recorded within the museum, either with a photograph or a piece of their kit or equipment.

He has also helped raise the profile of the facility by introducing tours of the museum to community groups.

"All the volunteers are so committed and I'm enormously proud of our police force," Mr Hopes said.

He said keeping his BEM a secret had been "quite a pressure".

He did not tell his grandchildren, but admitted he had told his son and daughter.

"But I joked they would be marched to the Tower if they said anything," he added.

Suffolk's Chief Constable Rachel Kearton said: "Fifty years of service is an incredible achievement in any job, but to be so unwaveringly dedicated to his policing role and the community he serves during his time here, is outstanding."

Mr Hopes is among a number of Suffolk residents to feature in the New Year Honours.

These include:

• Joanna Hilary Todd, the founder and chief executive officer of Respect, which works with domestic abuse perpetrators, male victims and young people who use violence and abuse. She has been appointed CBE for services to victims of domestic abuse

• Fiona Jane Ellis, chief executive officer of Survivors in Transition, which supports men and women who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood. She has been appointed OBE for services to survivors of childhood sexual abuse

• Volunteer worker James Matthew William Alexander has been appointed MBE for services to the natural environment

• Ed Sheeran's former music teacher, Richard Henry Hanley, from Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham has been awarded the BEM for services to education