A LIFESAVER who is Greater Manchester's longest serving Special Constable has collected his gong.

Hometown policeman Linden Riley was awarded the British Empire Medal in The Queen's Birthday Honours.

He received the award on Monday from the Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester Warren Smith at Dukinfield Town Hall in Tameside.

Mr Riley said: "I'm very proud of it and I'm really pleased with Greater Manchester Police for having nominated me for this award."

The modest 68-year-old has given thousands of hours of his own time over the staggering 47 years he has been a volunteer bobby – both during and after his careers as an engineer and photographer. I increased my hours after I retired from engineering and there was a time when I was doing up to 30 hours a week," he said.

"I'm doing more recruiting now and helping with training for the regulars, PCSOs and Special Constables. It's role playing and I teach them the certain ways of wearing your uniform and I give them little tips about how to use the radios, the baton and the handcuffs and examples when you don't need to use them."

Mr Riley was inspired to sign up as a Special Constable with Bolton Borough Police in May 1968 following his own brush with unpleasantness.

He previously told The Bolton News: "I was about 18 or 19 and two men stopped me and asked for a light for a cigarette.

"I said I didn’t have one and they wanted a scrap. I thought this could happen to anyone and I thought joining the police might be helpful so I could assist people who might come across a similar thing."

Mr Riley transferred over to first Lancashire Constabulary and then Greater Manchester Police thanks to successive local government reforms.

He patrolled Bolton town centre until about 1970 and then worked out of the former Middle Hulton Police Station for 20 years.

"I really enjoyed some of the big operations like the Pope's visit in the 1980s and where I have been in central Manchester for party conferences, and some of the parades I particularly liked when I escorted the Army, the sailors and old soldiers," he said.

"I started off with a wooden baton and a whistle. We didn't have handcuffs or radios and we had to use police telephone posts."

He helped out policing the Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in 2002.

Mr Riley was in uniform for the football matches played at Old Trafford during the 2012 Olympic Games and has been a regular face at Bolton Wanderers FC home matches both inside and outside the Macron Stadium.

He has carried the GMP banner in the Manchester Day Parade and often turns out at Remembrance Sunday events in Bolton.

He has guarded and met some famous names over his more than four decades in the force including comedian Ken Dodd, the Home Secretary Theresa May, footballer George Best and Princess Diana.

Mr Riley's British Empire Medal is not the first award for his policing work – he was handed the Chief Constable's Excellence Award for Volunteer of the Year in 2012.

He recalls saving the lives of two citizens while on duty.

The Special Constable gave a woman from Deane the kiss of life in the 1970s after she was whacked in the throat by her brother and stopped breathing.

In a separate later incident he managed to prevent a two-year-old girl from choking to death.

Mr Riley said: "I have enjoyed it immensely. I have policed all over Greater Manchester but 99 per cent of it has been in Bolton.

"I'm probably going to retire next year after I have been to Buckingham Palace for a garden party."

Special Constables have the same powers, uniform and equipment as regular police officers but work on a voluntary basis with a minimum commitment of four hours a week.

“Joining the specials is a good stepping stone if you are thinking about joining the police force," Mr Riley said.

"You get first aid training, new skills and some learn advanced driving skills."

If you are interested in joining, see www.gmp.police.uk or attend the Special Constabulary Information Evening at Sedgley Park Training Centre (Prestwich) in Sedgley Park Road, Prestwich, on Thursday October 8 between 7pm and 9pm.