THREE police constables are retiring after pounding the beat for more than 100 years between them.

PCs Steve Thompson, Reg Nicolson and Steve Reynolds have devoted more than half their lives to making their communities safer.

Now, over the next few weeks, the three will be moving to pastures new, after years of policing west Oxfordshire.

Pc Nicolson, 51, who lives on the Cogges estate in Witney, is retiring in August after 35 years’ service, but will continue working for West Oxfordshire District Council as an Asbo caseworker.

The father of three, who joined as a cadet aged 16, worked at Oxford’s Cowley police station, then in Slough, for the Royalty and Military Protection Unit, and moved to Witney police station in 1985.

Recalling some of his stranger shifts, he said: “There was one evening when we were looking after (former minister and Witney MP) Douglas Hurd at Minster Lovell. We had to get from the back of the house to the front without being seen. I was going down some steps and fell into a lot of water and got soaked.

“It turned out the steps were actually a waterfall that had been turned off leading down to a pond.”

He added: “There have been some scary times as well; one day we were dealing with a job in Oxford when there was a call about an explosive device at Reading train station.

“We got delayed in traffic, which was fortunate because a secondary device then went off on the track.

“No one was injured but it was fortunate as that was a place we would have thought about evacuating people to.”

Pc Thompson, 52, also from the town, has served for 34 years and will step down in August.

He said: “I always wanted to be a policeman. My dad was a special and, in those days, the village bobby was always visiting our house for cups of coffee. My dad was my inspiration.”

Pc Thompson, a father-of-two, remembers the then police training centre at Eynsham Hall, near Oxford.

“It was a very austere place for a 19-year-old,” he said.

“It was all very different then: early morning cross country before breakfast with a physical training instructor who we called ‘The Animal’, and drill, army-style, by a similarly named drill sergeant.

“Bulled boots and pressed uniforms were the order of the day and there was very little down time for the whole 10 weeks.”

During his service Pc Thompson witnessed the Toxteth riots, Lozells Road riots in Birmingham and policed the picket lines during the Miners’ Strike.

He has been an officer in west Oxfordshire since 1998, working for the past three years as a crime investigator.

Looking back on his career, he said: “We have the best police service in the world. We police by consent, which is a privilege not shared by many and which makes us the envy of most.

“We live in a generally peaceful society thanks primarily to these values.”

Pc Reynolds, who is retiring on July 30, also served in the royalty and military protection unit, in Standlake, Cowley and at Witney.

Pc Nicolson said: “I’ve known Steve since the mid-80s, he used to be the local beat officer at Standlake, where he still lives, so he’s known by a lot of people.

“He’s enjoyed his job, but cycling is his main love and he used to teach officers windsurfing.”