HM Waterguard
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HM Waterguard |
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Advice and support to anyone who wishes to create a HMC&E Outdoor Service, Indoor Service or Investigation Division site is available from trevor.tomasin@hm-waterguard.org.uk
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The Home Page also contains: |
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This web site started life as a page on the Tomasin Family History Project web site. It was to be a page that attempted to describe my life and work in HM Customs & Excise.
From 1966 until 1972, I was an Assistant Preventive Officer - a proud member of Her Majesty's Waterguard. On transferring from the Air Ministry, I was at first a supernumerary in London Port - 'Room 11' and the Harpy. After the Waterguard Training Centre, I secured a fixed post at London Heathrow Airport. In 1972 I was promoted to Officer (EO) and continued to work in the newly reorganised Department, first as Officer in Charge at Exeter Airport, then as an Officer - Preventive and EPU - and Senior Officer - Accounts, Administration & EPU - at Avonmouth, before promotion to SEO and a spell in HQ London - RAMCS - as a Senior Consultant. I finally returned to Bristol where I became becalmed in the LVO, and took early retirement as a Surveyor (SEO) in 1995.
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The more I wrote, the more I realized that the Family History page was becoming too large for its original purpose - to record my personal history and written for my children, my grandchildren and their descendents. Over the 2006 Christmas period, I re-conceived the page as a web site in its own right. In January 2007 I registered the domain www.hm-waterguard.org.uk and hosted the site initially with 123 Reg.com. In 2010 the site hosting was transferred to JustHost.com which offered a better service. A few letters to the editors of The Bond - the newsletter of the Federation of Customs and Excise Retired Members Associations & the Retired Members Society - and Portcullis - the C&E house magazine - announced the new web site, its aims and scope, and soon put me back in touch with ex-colleagues who were more than willing to share their memories, search their lofts andto loan me memorabilia from their own Waterguard days. |
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From those humble beginnings the word spread and material for the site flooded in . . . . . . But after this initial success, it soon became obvious that the site was in need of the services of a 'proof reader/editor' who not only had a better command of English spelling, grammar and punctuation than myself, but who also had a Customs preventive background. Eric Preedy offered his services. Eric joined HMC&E as a Departmental Clerical Officer in 1968, starting preventive work in 1971 on the Irish Land Boundary at Newry then at Luton Airport until 1972 when promotion beckoned to Excise and VAT. For 20 years prior to his early retirement in 2007 he was an Anti-Smuggling Senior Officer at Heathrow Airport. He is interested in the history of HMC&E and knows his way around HMC&E records at the National Archives at Kew. Eric became a very valued 'official researcher' for the site and a regular contributor of ideas, facts and images. The site owes much to his interest and hard work. |
In 2013 more assistance was sought from ex-colleagues with the updating of descriptions on the Ports & Creeks - Stations & Wharves pages, from the Customs Journals 'Cameo' articles held on the site, and with the creation of entries on the Obituary pages from those in the Customs Journals also held on the site. Len Donald took on the 'Cameo' articles but the 'Ports & Creeks - Stations & Wharves' job is still vacant.
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Since the 2005 merger of HM Customs & Excise with the Inland Revenue, forming HM Revenue & Customs, and the absorption of all the remaining Customs Preventive work into the Home Office's UK Border Agency, completed in 2008, the United Kingdom lost the distinctively uniformed Customs Officer at its ports, land boundaries and airports. With them went the traditions and the expertise of the Waterguard.
On the 1 March 2012 Teresa May, the then Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office), announced that the Border Force had been split from the UK Border Agency to become a separate operational command within the Home Office and that Brian Moore, Chief Constable of Wiltshire police, was to be its interim Head. Additionally he was designated as the Director of Border Revenue under section 6 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009. She went on to state that The Border Force would be responsible for entry controls and customs functions at the border, including our juxtaposed controls in France and Belgium.
The UK Border Agency would continue to be responsible for immigration casework, in-country enforcement activity, the immigration detention estate and the UKs overseas immigration operations.
The Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, would still be responsible for the inspection of both the UK Border Agency and the Border Force.
These post 1972 organizations sought to impose their own 'look and feel', often aggressively and at the expense of the old HMC&E and Waterguard histories and traditions that went before them. This web site seeks to redress some that 'wonton' destruction and the re-writing of history that has gone with it . . . . . .
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This web site has been constantly updated since its inception. Since February 2008 regular monthly newsletters have both recorded and announced these updates. These newsletters have been included on the site and can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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Trevor John Tomasin Revised - 21 March 2013 |
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A list of the Pages and Sub-Pages that make up this site - indents indicate a sub-page - can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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Many books have been written about HM Customs & Excise over the years. Some are solely about the Waterguard service and some only have chapters about the Waterguard service. You can view the suggested books for further reading by selecting the 'button' on the right |
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Visitors to the site are encouraged to leave comments, criticisms & suggestions about the site and its content - Did you find it easy to navigate? Was it informative? Was it a pleasant experience? Your comments may help to improve the site. Please complete and 'SUBMIT' the Visitor's Comment Form available from the 'button' on the right. Thank you!. |
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You can view the Visitor's Book by selecting the 'button' on the right |
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One way or another, this site attracts queries about HM Customs & Excise in general, the Preventive Waterguard and the Waterguard service, as well as queries about the history, the officers and their work. These queries, from casual browsers, researchers and other organisations, can usually be answered by a further, in depth browsing of the site. However, if you can't find the answer you're looking for, fill out and 'SUBMIT' the C&E Enquiry Form available from the 'button' on the right and we'll try to help you as soon as possible. |
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The site offers 'subscriptions' to our associated e-mailing list - HM Waterguard - for discussions with other members of the e-mailing list about the Waterguard and for disseminating notifications from the webmaster, including a bi-monthly 'update' of changes and improvements to the web site and notifications that the latest copy of The BOND or The C&E History Newsletter is available on the web site. More details about subscribing to the e-mailing list are available by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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This site incurs many maintenance costs - annual domain fees, annual web site hosting fees, copyright fees, software purchases and updates, legal charges & fees, post & packing charges etc. If you would like to make a contribution towards these costs by making a donation, you can do so by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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A Directory of Waterguard Sports & Social Clubs - including FOCERRSA, CERSA & Retired Members Sections of Revenue & Customs Sports & Leisure - can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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A selection of Waterguard Merchandise can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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The Waterguard Notice Board is provided for ex-Waterguard staff to advertise 'Waterguard' events. The Mailing List - hm-customs-waterguard-l@rootsweb.com - is used to announce a new notice has been posted on the 'board' which can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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The Waterguard Workshop is used to display Waterguard items about which more information is required or experimental pages on which opinions are sought. To view what is currently in the Workshop select the 'button' on the right. |
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In late 2008, the Waterguard site was selected by the British Library for inclusion in their UK Web Archive programme which contains websites that publish research, that reflect the diversity of lives, interests and activities throughout the UK. Like the Waterguard site, which is constantly changing, they contain information that is only available online. The Archive was designed to safeguard as many of these websites as practical by collecting, preserving and giving permanent access to key UK websites for future generations.
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Because the Waterguard website is revisited and 'snapshots' taken of it at regular 6 monthly intervals, viewers are able to see how it has evolved over time. The first 'snapshot' was take in April 2009, and 'snapshots' taken of the HM-Waterguard web site to date can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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On 1 May 2013 this web site comprised of 6411 computer files, plus sub-directories and associated files, amounting to approximately 2.02GB of our Justhost.com Linux server space.
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A list of current surveys being conducted by this site can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right. |
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