A FORMER Worcester policeman has died at the age of 86.

Cyril Lumb served in the police force for 26 years and was known by many as the bobby with the smiley eyes.

He died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Saturday, November 1, following a heart attack.

His widow Eileen said: “It was 34 good years of marriage. We were opposites but we just got on so well.”

Following the sudden death, Mr Lumb’s family wants to trace his war medals, which were stolen from his house in Arundel Drive, Worcester, several years ago.

“He had five of them from places like Africa and Italy and he wore them with pride, we just want them back,” Mrs Lumb said.

Mr Lumb was born in the Lake District and grew up in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire.

After leaving school when he was 14, he went into the textiles industry and worked behind a loom in a factory.

Three years later war broke out and he enlisted in the RAF where he trained as an armourer.

At the end of the Second World War Mr Lumb returned home but soon moved to Worcester and applied for a job as a policeman.

“He was of the old school, like the old village copper,” said his son Stewart. “He felt a cuff around the ear was better than time in prison.”

Soon after, he married Freda and together they had five sons: John, Stewart, Malcolm, Adrian and Keith. The couple later divorced and in 1974 Mr Lumb married his second wife Eileen at Worcester’s register office.

Highlights of his police career were rescuing a kitten from a flooded river Severn and chasing a thief from Worcester Cathedral.

During his days as a PC, Mr Lumb joined the Worcester police male voice choir, which later became the Worcester male voice choir.

Singing was his passion and it took him around the world to perform in Germany, Holland and Canada.

When he was not policing Worcester’s streets Mr Lumb enjoyed playing table tennis and snooker and loved travelling in his campervan.

After leaving the police force Mr Lumb worked at Metal Box in Worcester before being made redundant when he was 62 years old.

He leaves his wife, five sons, two step-children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.