YOUNG Denis Sheldon took to horseriding as a lad, visiting farms to enjoy riding in the Wetley Rocks area where he was born. His enthusiasm led to a career as a mounted police officer, a familiar figure to the crowds attending football matches at Stoke City's Victoria Ground and at Vale Park.

Denis served in the police for 25 years and retired as a countryside ranger for Staffordshire County Council in 1974. He lived in Cheddleton, where people remember how he led the village carnival procession on his favourite horse, Jumbo, pictured above, and in retirement he was a popular character, regularly seen out for walks with one of a succession of German Shepherd dogs.

After leaving Cellarhead Secondary School, Denis worked at Brittain's paper mill in Cheddleton before being called up in 1944 and being stationed in Germany. He served in the Army for three years, and on discharge applied to join Stoke-on-Trent City Police.

As he was already a skilled horseman, he was taken on as a mounted officer, working from stables then at Town Yard in Bethesda Street.

He retired from the police after 25 years, during which time he was well known to thousands at football grounds, riding horses including Jumbo and Silver.

His wife Norma says that during the last years of his service he was having to endure taunts and threats from hooligan elements in football crowds.

"Some of them threatened to pull him off his horse or damage their legs," she says, "but during most of his career, people had a great respect for him.

"Remember, he had no special protective clothing or communication equipment as officers have now. He just wore his peaked cap with pride."

On leaving the police, Denis became a Staffordshire County Council countryside ranger, part of a team supervising various sites with a Land Rover and a dog, pictured below.

His rounds included Biddulph Grange, Greenway Bank, Trentham Gardens, Hanchurch Hills, Oakamoor and Cannock Chase, and he retired when he was 65.

He married Norma at St Mary's Church, Bucknall, in 1955.

They met when she was a trainee nurse at North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary and he was admitted with a broken knee after a motorcycle accident. "I was much taken with this chap sitting up in bed with a cheery grin," says Norma.

They were to have no children of their own, but Norma became a midwife and Denis would go with her when she was called out, often at night, to deliver a baby.

They lived at Cheddleton for 51 years, after starting their married life in Bentilee where Norma worked as a midwife. Denis had a fine collection of koi carp, and he was a regular among friends at the Boat Inn. He loved sport and was a keen supporter of Stoke City.

He died aged 82 at his home in Cheddleton on September 28, and his funeral took place on Tuesday at St Edward's Church, Cheddleton, followed by cremation at Carmountside.