I TOOK a bus recently. A rare event, and, as I had an early appointment in town, I took a school bus.

It was only a 20-minute trip but I noticed that the young man and the two young girls who were sitting next to me never stopped talking throughout the trip. It made me think I would never ever be able to keep up a conversation that long.

I couldn’t hear what was said – a side-effect of being old and deaf – but it did start me wondering about what could possibly be so interesting, first thing in the morning. Do children really know enough of life? Do they read the papers or watch the news?

Then I thought, would they be interested in knowing just who was standing next to them? Would they want to know I once shared a room (alright, a theatre!) with the Beatles in 1964 and 1965? In San Francisco I once visited all the scenes that appeared in the film Dirty Harry, and later I met Clint Eastwood while he was filming Escape From Alcatraz.

As a Surrey police officer I once interviewed a young man whose behaviour was causing concern but I obviously wasn’t threatening enough as he later killed a local boy. Later, I was once the station officer when several of the Great Train Robbers were brought in for a ‘comfort break’, and I once shared a prison exercise yard with one of the Kray twins.

Throughout my career I spent many hours guarding and talking with robbers, murderers and other offenders.

At the age of 65 I’ve seen a lot and I’m conscious of the fact that – like many people of my age – once I’ve gone, all the memories will be gone.

Wouldn’t it be good if there was an easily accessible system by which Herefordshire residents could share their experiences and pass them on to the next generation?

Eric Sykes wrote an autobiography in which he made it plain that, if he didn’t write it, no-one else would.

That is just as true today and it makes me wonder just how much we’re missing out on.

MARTIN FIELD Burley Gate