'He lived a good life' - Legendary Dudley police officer who served community for 30 years and went to Sir Winston Churchill's funeral has died

Born in Leek, in 1932, father-of-two Charlie Davenport left school at 13 and went straight into work to help support his family,  taking on a bread-round in his early teens before passing his driving test and delivering groceries to locals in Staffordshire. 

In 1951 he joined the army, specifically the Coldstream Guards - the oldest continuously serving regular regiment - and was based in various places around the world training in Surrey and Kent, but soon jetting off to Cyprus, Korea, Egypt and Germany. 

After leaving in 1956, he re-joined the army the same year before finally calling it a day, becoming a civilian mechanic in the West Midlands until 1960 when he joined Dudley Borough Police Force as a police constable, then a traffic cop and returning to being a beat policeman on the Russells Hall Estate, becoming a well respected bobby. 

He spent the next 30 years keeping families across Dudley safe, working in schools and building a reputation as a 'firm but fair' police officer who was known for being a bridge between cultures and building relationships between diverse groups that lived in the area. 

Charlie was also one of the officers chosen to represent Dudley Police at Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965.

He retired from the police in 1989, worked for Dudley Council coordinating staff, before retiring for good in 1997, working a voluntary role as a tour guide until his early seventies. 

Two years ago he suffered ill-health and eventually passed away surrounded by his family in November, but will be remembered by everyone who he stumbled across in life as a man who cared deeply for Dudley, raised his family, and strongly believed in the community spirit that we all champion not just in Dudley, but across the whole region.