Weston Rhyn has been Graham French's beat for the past 23 years.

Graham French is saying goodbye to Weston Rhyn after 23 years as its local copper.

He admits himself that his life is often a little like a storyline from Heartbeat.

Police Constable Graham French lives in the former police house in the rural Shropshire village of Weston Rhyn, and hasn’t the heart to turn people away when they want help – whatever time of day or night.

From a knock on the door just as he is taking his Sunday roast out of the oven, to opening it at 4am to find someone who has just caught a thief, the affable policeman takes it all in his stride.

And when he retires later this month, he admits he is really going to miss his role as village bobby, a role he has had in Weston Rhyn for the past 23 years.

But, at the age of 54, he says he is finding it increasing difficult chasing after those who “do a runner”. And finding himself alone in a town centre street on a Friday or Saturday night, surrounded by an angry drunken mob, is not his ideal way of spending the weekend.

Police Constable Graham French joined the force as a police cadet at the age of 16 in 1971 and was posted to Oswestry in 1975, a place he admits he did not know existed then. He spent three years in Whitchurch before being sent to Weston Rhyn 23 years ago, and soon fell in love with the village.

“There is nowhere else quite like it. It is right on the edge of the Welsh Hills and so has a special beauty and it has such a wide mix of people . . . very friendly people.”

He loves the countryside so much that rather than hide away in an office catching up on the paperwork that is the bane of his life, he will often do it in his patrol car, in a layby above Tyn y Rhos, where he can see the village below.

Other times he will do his administration in quiet times in between dealing with people’s problems at his village surgery in the public institute. Another favourite place for a surgery is a “desk” in the open police van in the Cross Keys pub car park in the village.

“That always attracts people coming up to talk and ask advice. Sometimes there is even a queue. One thing I am sorry about is that we never have enough time to patrol on foot. It is an ideal way for people to see and be seen.”

When West Mercia Police decided to sell off their police houses, Graham never hesitated in his decision to buy what had become his home.

And while he says it means he has never been able to really separate his work from his home life, that has never bothered him.

“I never took the police notice board down from outside, although I will have to when I retire. To be honest I am flattered that people will come and talk to me. It is actually really nice to be able to help people although sometimes I get frustrated because I feel I cannot help them enough.

“Not long ago I was just taking a nice joint out of the oven when a lady called, obviously very worried about her daughter. It soon became apparent this was something quite serious so the meat went back in on a very low temperature and we sorted things out.”

One of his most bizarre moments came when there had been a lot of problems with theft of milk from a local dairy.

“There was a banging on the door at 4am and I went downstairs in my pyjamas to find the milkman on the doorstep saying he had the thief locked in his milk float. I had to go out there and then and arrest this chap, then wait for a policeman on duty to come and collect him.

“I sometimes think my life is more like Heartbeat than the modern police world. But I have always enjoyed dealing with people and being in uniform. I have never wanted to go into the CID.”

He adds: “The great majority of people are good people. These days the teenagers that I had to be quite firm with a decade or so ago are now parents. Some of them, concerned about the children’s behaviour, have asked me to have a word with them before they get into serious trouble.”

Graham has always enjoyed his work with children, and been welcome at the area’s two primary schools, Weston Rhyn and Selattyn. He and says it is important to put across messages to youngsters from road safety to the dangers of drugs, from an early age.

In fact for the last two years Graham has given up a week of his annual leave to help out at Shropshire’s Crucial Crew project which teaches children in their last year at primary school some of the dangers of the outside world.

Hundreds of youngsters visit the project which has scenarios set up looking at various dangers, from water, roads and electricity, to cyber bullying, drink and drugs.

He made the decision a decade ago to retire at the age of 54, and also to move back to his family home in Worcestershire.

“I also wanted to go before I could not do every bit of police work. There are scary moments in this job and I have found myself, on my own, surrounded by drunken angry people, too many times, wondering when my back-up is going to arrive.

When you are grappling with people young enough to be your grandchildren it loses its appeal.

“I also thought I was a gazelle recently, leaping over a fence chasing someone. At this age it is too easy to get injured.

“I am looking forward to having more time for painting and listening to music. But I will really miss Weston Rhyn, and that is because of the people who live here.”

By Sue Austin