BOURNEMOUTH’S first woman police officer has died aged 96.

Vera Brisdon, who joined the force towards the end of World War Two, had recalled how she “liked every bit of the job”.

Her friend Cheryl Noble said of her passing: “It’s the end of an era.”

Vera joined the Bournemouth Borough Police in 1944, after being approached about the idea while working in an aircraft factory. She was encouraged by her father, who was a bobby at Hurn and Blackwater.

As the borough’s first woman officer, she carried the collar number “WPC1”.

Speaking to the Daily Echo in 2010, she recalled patrolling for Germans attempting to land on the Bournemouth coast. She said she had never been afraid, even when left on her own with criminals.

Her duties often involved dealing with women and children, and at £8 a week her wages were less than those of male officers. But she said she did not suffer any personal discrimination from colleagues and quite enjoyed being the only woman on the local force.

Vera left the force in 1946 after struggling to cope with the death of her parents. She married Inspector Stan Brisdon, who in 1965 was chosen to be part of the procession at Sir Winston Churchill’s state funeral.

Stan died in 2004 and Vera moved two years later into Kelso Nursing Home in Southbourne, where Cheryl said she had been well looked after.

Jill Talbot, secretary of the Bournemouth branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers (NAPRO), said: “She was a trailblazer. Her father was a policeman so she had a taste for it.”

“She was one of our oldest members if not the oldest. Several of the more recent police officers visited her right up to the end.”

Dorset’s police and crime commissioner (PCC), Martyn Underhill, pointed out that the county had one of only five female chief constables in England and Wales.

“Pioneers like Vera helped create a step change in the service which must be recognised, and built on,” he said.

Vera’s funeral took place on Tuesday at Boscombe East cemetery.

Her coffin was draped in the NAPRO flag and Dorset’s chief constable Debbie Simpson was among those to send flowers.