‘It’s lovely to be in a position to help people every day’

Mullingar Garda Station bade farewell to one of its best known members of staff on Sunday evening when Sergeant Roger Nicholson retired after 39 years of service, most of which were spent in Westmeath.

Reared on the family farm in Caulry, just outside Sligo, Roger attended the local primary school and Summerhill College before becoming one of the first computer programming students in what was then known as Sligo Regional Technical College, now Institute of Technology Sligo.

However, after graduating, he decided that the world of ones and zeros wasn’t for him and he applied to join An Garda Síochána in 1981.

He was interviewed “on a very wet Monday morning in September 1981” in Sligo. He joined the guards on March 2, 1983, the same day as his recently retired colleague of many years Brian Willoughby.

During his years as a student, Roger worked as a porter in Sligo General Hospital, a job he enjoyed. Looking back, he believes that his experiences in the hospital influenced his decision to join the guards.

“At the time, the porters worked all over the hospital and you had a great insight into tragedy and the other situations you might find yourself in as a guard,” he said.

Roger was on duty in the hospital on the night of August 8, 1980 when a fire in the Central Hotel in Bundoran killed 10 people and injured many more, and he vividly remembers the tragic scenes as the casualties were brought in.

“That was a very sad night,” he says.

After completing his training in August 83, Roger’s first posting a newly quality officer was to the station border town of Pettigo in County Donegal. In September 1987, he was transferred a few miles down the road to Ballyshannon station.

His time in Donegal coincided with the height of the Troubles and while Roger encountered both the victims and perpetrators of terrorist acts during his time in Pettigo, he has fond memories of the place and its people.

“It was difficult time for people living in the border areas, from both sides of the community, but I found the people from that area very nice people. I made great friends from both sides of the community.

“I played some junior football in Pettigo with the club. I wasn’t much good at it, but I tried (laughs). There were a lot of young guards stationed there at the time and we had a great time.”

During his year’s in Donegal, Roger also played rugby with a local team and became involved with the Donegal Harriers athletic club. In 1987 he won the Northern Ireland 3km walking championship in Belfast. A year before, he was part of the Donegal Harriers team that won the national inter-club championship. One of his team mates was the well known runner Danny McDaid.

In January 1992, Roger was transferred to Westmeath, first to Athlone station for a month and then to Mullingar, where he went on spend the bulk of his career.

Roger and his family didn’t take long to settle in Mullingar.

“It was and is great town to live and work in. Very central, with great facilities for education, socially and for sport. It’s been a great town to live in and was easy to integrate into. I settled in fast. The people were good to me and I have great friends. I also learned a lot from people.”

Promoted to the rank of sergeant in July 2008, Roger was transferred to Carrickmacross. In December of the same year he was on the move again, this time to Monaghan town. He served there until March 2010, when he was transferred to Delvin. After seven months in Delvin, he was transferred back to Mullingar.

In 2016, he took over as the Sergeant in Charge of the Community Policing Unit in Mullingar and embarked on what he says has been the most enjoyable chapter of his long career in the force.

“I really enjoyed my community policing duties. It gave me an opportunity to help so many people, many form disadvantaged backgrounds, to help their lives to prosper.”

One of the most important duties of a community police officer, Roger says, is to try to influence the young not to succumb to the temptation of drugs and to stay in education for as long as possible.

“It is easy to get involved in drugs. I tried to explain to them the impact that drugs can have on people and the benefits of staying in education because of all the doors it can open up for people, both through employment and travel.

“I didn’t like to see young people end up before the courts if at all possible, because convictions have an influence on people’s futures. I tried to explain the benefits of staying on the straight and narrow, by staying involved in sports and cultural clubs.”

Roger says that when it comes to his policing, he subscribes to the “old style” and that throughout his career he tried to adhere to a piece of advice given to him when he was a fresh from Templemore.

“When I was a young guard, a colleague said to me: ‘You can criticise behaviour but never the person’. I always tried to remember that during my work.

“I love to talk to people and chat to them. I always like to help people. Education is the key to helping people improve their life situations.

“Initially I worked with Hugh Cafferty, Terry McGovern and Christie Connolly, who were great role models and were old style guards.

“I worked alongside other great colleagues such as Alan Murray, fellow Sligo man John McDonnell, and most particularly Denis Naughton. Denis was a very fine, common sense police man and certainly the finest community policing garda I ever met. He was very dedicated to his job. He had a great positive influence on me.

“Many members of the community from other sectors were also a huge help and positive influence, such as teachers and members of sports clubs and other community groups – they greatly helped me in the course of my work.

“Great credit must go to the volunteers who do such great work for their communities,” he said.

After hanging up his uniform for the last time on Sunday night, Roger says he is going to take a well earned break before embarking on any big adventures – he has a lengthy bucket list he wants to get through.

He also wants to spend more time with his two daughters – Laura, a GP in Galway, and Emer, a doctor in Tallaght hospital – as well as visiting his family in Sligo more.

He is officially retiring, but Roger says that he intends to keep busy. The chairperson of the Westmeath Support Service Against Domestic Abuse, he is also a member of Mullingar Camera Club and volunteers with Mullingar Agricultural Show. He is also a member of Mullingar Golf Club, but says he is happy enough maintaining his handicap rather than improving it!

“I want to take a bit of time out and relax to see what the next chapter of my life will bring. I hope to travel later this year.

“I hope I have given reasonable service to the people of Mullingar and I hope that I can continue to do so in various organisations which I am still involved with. I am happy that I joined An Garda Síochána and would love to thank all of the officers that I served with throughout my 39 years and particularly my colleagues in the Community Policing Unit.

“The service has been very good to me and it’s lovely to be in a position where you can help people on a day to day basis in your working life and be a positive influence on people,” he said.