{"id":596038,"date":"2026-09-10T12:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/596038\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T12:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:28:17","slug":"police-turn-out-in-force-for-100-year-olds-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/596038\/","title":{"rendered":"Police turn out in force for 100-year-old\u2019s birthday party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Christchurch police officer Robert \u2018Bob\u2019 Wouldes marked his 100th birthday in\u00a0Rangiora with\u00a0stories about The Beatles\u00a0tour of New Zealand and the time he was\u00a0assigned to protect Queen Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n

Canterbury Rural Area Commander Inspector Peter Cooper was on hand to celebrate the milestone with Bob at the Rangiora RSA\u00a0on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The centenarian\u00a0shared stories from his long life, which included a policing career that lasted more than three decades.<\/p>\n

Bob\u2019s connection to the police goes back a long way. He first joined in 1952, training at Wellington South Depot before serving in Palmerston North and Christchurch.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Robert (Bob) Wouldes on the beat in 1952. Photo: Ten One Magazine <\/p>\n

During that first stint, he was selected as part of the security entourage for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh during their Royal Tour.<\/p>\n

After leaving the police in 1967 to try his hand at running a fish and chip shop, Bob soon realised it wasn\u2019t for him.<\/p>\n

But the New Zealand\u00a0police \u201cwarmly welcomed him back later that year\u201d.<\/p>\n

He remained with them until retiring in 1986, spending much of that time in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

Bob also spoke about his involvement with\u00a0the Royal Tour and his memories\u00a0of Queen Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queen was such a lovely lady. I really enjoyed meeting her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that I was told I had to follow some band around called The Beatles. I didn’t like them then and I still don\u2019t like them now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Police training in 1952. Back row: William FLEMING, John CHILD, John TAYLOR, Robert REICHARDT, Donald DUNCAN, Rex MAJOR, Kevin BRIERLY, John COCKS, Charles POWELL. Second row: William ROBERTS, BRONSEN, Stanley WATERS, Basil JOHNSON, Leo McKEEFRY, Eric LAKIN, Moran ODILL, Robert WOULDES, Frederick RAGGETT. Front row: Ronald DOCKARY, Russell SYKES, Rex HAY, Sergeant WJ ROBERSTON, Kenneth MATHIE, John BONES, John O\u2019CONNOR. Photo: Courtesy of the Police Museum <\/p>\n

Cooper said\u00a0it was a privilege to be at the Rangiora RSA to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n

“Meeting Bob was an absolute pleasure. One hundred years is a remarkable achievement, and his stories, humour and memories are incredible,” Cooper\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe enjoyed seeing the patrol car at his birthday celebration \u2013 he probably would have taken it for a spin if he hadn\u2019t had to give up his licence about six months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBob still has very fond memories of his time in police. He remains very proud of his service and of the organisation he was part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Ten One Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Christchurch police officer Robert \u2018Bob\u2019 Wouldes marked his 100th birthday in\u00a0Rangiora with\u00a0stories about The Beatles\u00a0tour of New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-596038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}