geoff1955

Hi Mervyn, I am in Perth WA but have also lived in Sydney for many years, initially North Shore (Artarmon/Chatswood) and later way out west (Narellan). Cheers Geoff.

Hi Geoff, Your helmet certainly sounds fine - as requested I've attached a couple of pics of mine. Interestingly mine was never issued, so has never been whitened. Internally its never been worn. Apologies for the rather poor quality of the photos, they were quickly taken in the kitchen! I attach a pic of the rear two vent holes, I wouldn't put any great importance if your doesn't have these, they were possibly a manufacturing variation, perhaps on helmets supplied to the force shortly before the amalgamation, which could explain why this one never saw service. Hi Jamie, thanks so much for the photo's, my mind is at ease! My helmet is essentially identical to yours aside from some subtle variances which could realistically be a result of either a different makers interpretation of the same specification, minor specification changes over time, or both. The differences are: 1. Mine has no rear vent holes. 2. Mine has a slightly narrower fabric band around the outside of it (about 20mm, same as the strap) whereas yours looks to be wider, possibly about 25mm? 3. The string threaded through the leather sweatband on mine is threaded through every 4th hole in the band, yours looks like it is threaded much closer. (If you look at post#142 on this page, Brian Wolfe posted a photo of the interior of his blue Velocette helmet,) my sweatband is 100% identical to that. 4. I can see some sort of stamp or mark on the sweatband of yours, mine has none. On the subject of Brian's picture, you will also note that his still has all the cork lining right through the shell of the helmet, whereas yours & mine don't although mine has remains of it. Your helmet looks very nice & original Jamie, unfortunately mine has been re-blancoed at some point which partially obscures the "grain" of the fabric. Would it be fair to say then, that we both have a style of Brighton helmet which is even rarer than the already scarce "foot patrol" white helmets? Cheers, will upgrade my membership and post my pic's soon. By the way, I left Brighton as a 16 year old in 1971 and will be going back for the first time this year in October. I am hoping to go to the Police Museum in Brighton in my travels. Cheers, Geoff.

This photos were too large to post together so here is the interior view. Regards Brian Hi Brian, my white Brighton helmet mentioned in my post is identical inside to this apart from the fact that the outer layer of strap is white, not black. Geoff, Australia

Hi Geoff, My opinions on your queries are: a) I understand that in the mid 1930's the Home Office in the UK had a policy of trying to standardise police dress within the country. The 'look' they preferred was that worn by the Metropolitan Police in London. Accordingly many forces at this time changed their older 'wreath' style plates to the Mets 'Star' pattern. b) It is hard to be sure without seeing a picture of your helmet but I believe it could be genuine. In my collection I have a Brighton white helmet with the 'riot' style of chinstrap. From memory (as I don't have it to hand), the chinstrap is made from white leather about 20mm or so wide, attached at the sides and rear of the helmet and with a buckled fastener under the chin. This style of helmet was, I believe, worn by officers riding the low power motorcycle patrols. Some forces used full size helmets with this chinstrap arrangement instead of the 'noddy' style. Nicks helmet is a fine example of a KC version - these had a slightly higher dome and were 6 panelled. The later QC helmets were 2 panel and weren't quite so high (only a fairly slight difference though). Hope this helps. J Hi Jamie, Many thanks for the input on wreath plates, and the help regarding the status of my white QC Brighton helmet with the "riot strap". Nicks welcome but rather worrying suggestion that it may not be genuine is of concern but I have a good feeling about it myself, it all looks too "right" and in my mind ticked all the correct boxes except for the strap. Thanks Jamie for the motorcycle helmet theory and I would very much like to see some photos of your own riot strap helmet. I am not sure, but will I need to upgrade my membership to allow me to post some photos of the helmet for appraisal by you all? As for your description of the strap etc it is correct to mine. The strap is exactly 20mm wide, 2 layers of leather thick, white leather/leatherette on the outside & softer tan colored leather on the inner layer, each side mounted at 2 points, side & rear. It has a steel buckle on the L/hand strap, a little rusted now but plated either chrome or zinc originally I would say. There are 7 holes in the R/hand strap to engage the buckle and each hole has a metal reinforcing ring in it which is also white. The helmet itself only has the usual 2 vent holes each side and what looks like an extra "deeper" ring of fibrous hard felt behind the standard leather sweatband. I can see no size or maker marks. The lining of the helmet is green and aged in line with other 50's & 60's helmets in my collection. Interestingly, on the Website "My Brighton And Hove" there is a photo of the Police Storeman (Bert) from Brighton police stores with stacks of surrendered white helmets in the background after the amalgamation in the late 60's and if you look closely at the stack that Bert is actually holding, the second helmet from the bottom of the stack has what looks to me very much like a portion of the much wider white riot strap showing under the helmet side brim. Check it out. Many Thanks, Geoff, Australia.

Hi to all, just joined, my first post. An ex Brighton lad living in Oz, my interest is very specific namely the helmets and helmet plates of the Brighton Police. I have a 1960's white Brighton helmet amongst others with white "riot" style chinstrap. I have a couple of very specific questions to throw into the mix on Brighton headgear and hope that there might be somebody out there who may be able to answer. First, on the subject of Brighton helmet plates, when was the "wreath style" plate replaced by the "Kings Crown" style plate, and secondly I have seen 1960's white Brighton helmets in photo's with single chinstraps, yet mine has the riot style chinstrap with 2 mounting points, were they issued concurrently, or did one supersede the other? Geoff.