Nottinghamshire Police officers and staff awarded medals and coins to mark Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Medals and coins to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee have been presented to long-serving police officers and staff.

The special mementos have been sent out to thousands of Armed Forces members, police officers, firefighters, prison and other emergency services workers to mark 70 years of the Queen’s reign.

At Nottinghamshire Police, over a thousand police officers have been presented with the Platinum Jubilee Medal while hundreds of staff have received a commemorative coin.

They have been issued to those who have completed five years’ service or longer.

The force’s longest-serving recipient is Special Constable Alan Marwood, who celebrates his 52nd year with the force this year.

The volunteer cop, who joined Nottinghamshire Police in 1970 and has policed many different areas in the county, said he was delighted to receive the special commemorative medal.

He said: “It’s a very nice gesture. When you take the oath you swear to serve our Sovereign Lady, so the Queen’s been ‘the boss’ for 70 years.

“She’s done such a fantastic job and so it’s nice to receive a medal commemorating her Platinum Jubilee.

“It’s lovely to have but I’m going to let my wife Margaret have it as she’s stood by me all these years. We have a little grandson and in the fullness of time he can have it as a memento.”

Acting as a token of the nation’s thanks, the Platinum Jubilee Medal — which is made of nickel silver — follows a long history of awarding medals to mark Royal Jubilees, with the first one awarded to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1887.

The Platinum Jubilee Medal has been designed by Timothy Noad of the College of Arms and features an image of the Queen with the Latin inscription ‘Elizabeth II Dei Gratia Regina Fid Def’ which stands for ‘Elizabeth II, By the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith'.

It is the fourth jubilee medal created for the Queen and the seventh official jubilee medal to be awarded by a Monarch. Previous medals were officially awarded to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, Golden Jubilee in 2002 and Diamond Jubilee in 2012 — where around 450,000 medals were given out.

Meanwhile, the Platinum Jubilee Coin has been awarded to police staff with five years’ service or more.

They include clerical assistant Martine Cox who, apart from a two-year career break, has worked at Nottinghamshire Police since 1975.

Martine said: “I’m really pleased to receive the coin. I’ve been in my job for 47 years and it’s incredible to think the Queen’s now reached 70 years of service.

“She’s been absolutely brilliant. She’s done a fantastic job so it’s nice to receive a coin marking her jubilee.”

The Platinum Jubilee Medal is just one part of the year-long Platinum Jubilee celebrations that will take place throughout the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and across the world in 2022 as the Queen becomes the first British Monarch to celebrate this milestone.

Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Barber, of Nottinghamshire Police, congratulated those receiving the jubilee medal or commemorative coin.

She said: “I am immensely proud of our colleagues whose contribution to public service is being recognised at this special time.

“As we begin the celebrations to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, I want to offer my warmest congratulations to Her Majesty, whose 70 years of public service to our country and to the rest of the Commonwealth is truly an inspiration to us all.

“I hope everyone is able to enjoy the celebrations and has a fantastic Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend.”