Student fire fighters Presentation

Student Fire Fighting vehicle

Today was a celebration and awards ceremony for the first set of student firefighters to be trained and graduate in Tamworth.

Here I met 7 of the student fire fighters who have attened at 12 week course consisting of one day per week. these young people had recived some excellent training and through 2 displays showed us what they had learnt. this wasn't thoery or playing around this was proper training in fire and rescue from cutting the roof off a car to fighting fires with breathing aparatus.

In the past student fire fighters have had to travel out of Tamworth to do this course, but now we have the fantastic facilities at Belgrave the benefits are fantastic.

A couple of the things I noticed today included 1, the weather 2, the team 3, the attention to detail.
The weather - as i sat in the cold watching I thought to myself how it would have been nice to have done this on a warm dry day, but then stopped and thought, the actual fire and rescue personal don't have a choice if its a real emergency. And today (no offence meant) you couldn't tell the difference between the regular staff and the teenagers.
The Team, these young people came from different school around Tamworth and had not met before but still in the 12 hours they worked together and developed a strong team, they way they used the spinal board and cut the roof off the car was a really team effort and was carried off seamlessly
Attention to detail and discipline, my teenage kid and other children really struggle to tidy up, but these in the team did what they did in the rescue and without a thought put all the equipment back away where is should be without a second thought.

This was a great experience and honour to share with the families, I hope the courses continue and would recommend all high schools to be aware and find out about this opportunity for young people in Tamworth.

Bad Laasphe (Pt2) Fire Fighting

It was a privileged to be able to attend the handover of a new turntable ladder at the Bad Laaspe fire station. The weather was a tiny bit damp, more drizzle than rain, and there was a cold wind as we arrived at the Fire Station, as we rounded the corner into the yard we where greeted by around a dozen appliances and  vehicles plus loads of people.

The handover ceremony started almost immediately after we arrived with the Bürgermeister (mayor) of bad Laasphe making a speech and presenting the chief fire officer with a giant Iveco Key to symbolise the had over of the new appliance. After a few speeches (in German obviously and well translated by the person next to me) I was Introduced and called forward to make a presentation to the chief fire officer, before I left for Germany being on the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority I arranged for an authority plaque to take. I presented my gift much to the pleasure and honour of the Chief fire officer this was followed by Tony Goodwin (Chief Executive of TBC) presenting the station with a gift from the council, we too received gifts  and relaxed to chat.

Our relaxation was short lived and replaced with exhilaration as Tony and I were given the opportunity to go up in the new ladder platform, we both stepped in and the platform began to rise. to our surprise the movement was very smooth and stable without wobble or jolt, before we knew it we were 6 storeys up (100ft 30m ish) swinging around in the air looking down on roof tops and about 150 people below. the feeling was amazing, I would never had dreamt I would have the opportunity to do this but there I was 6 storeys up and not able to speak the same language as the person operating the controls.

Feet back on the ground and legs becoming shaky it was time to join the other guests in the fire station and enjoy some refreshment, conveniently the chief fire officer is also the local brewer and the local Bosch Pils was flowing nicely. Once again the residents of Bad Laasphe were really friendly and we spent allot of the evening talking to both members of their twinning and local fire fighter who made us feel really welcome.

The Fire service in Germany is voluntary (in a similar was to our retained crews a payment is paid however this goes through their employer) and the local community raises funds for equipment, but the dedication of these fire fighters is second to none.

We had a fantastic evening till around 10 o'clock when a days travelling from Tamworth began to take hold and we made our way to our hotel room for the week end.

Kibblestone and a load of Scouts

I have to admit i had never heard of Kibblestone and also knew very little about the Scouts (I was a member of a different uniformed organisation for boys the Boys Brigade) so I was a little unsure as to what to expect when I received an invite to their Born Survivor weekend. Just add that i was only there for a few hours.

So the site is just outside stone and had 1200 scouts from the age of 10 upwards taking part in a number of activities and camping there for the weekend. There was loads to do an well organised ration of activities some of which seemed to be just fun whilst others were of great learning value and sharing of skills which can be seen on TV practised by the head scouts Bear Grylls (top bloke check him out on google or discovery channels).
 I ran into a group of scouts from Tamworth just at the point they had finished a team building exercise which included building a shelter, lighting a fire with a flint and making a cup of tea on it. I did miss the cup of tea however got a full description of what it was like from on of the scouts, apparently she didn't like it as it was like warm milk and a bit weak.
This was done just up the hill from an area where scouts were gutting and cooking trout on open fires, great life skills and new horizons, one of the leaders mentioned that a number of scouts started off saying they didn't like fish but once they had prepared and cooked it they nearly all ate it.
Away from the main site across the road there were yet more activities in the trees including a fantastic yet little scary set of apparatus for scouts to climb either racing each other or using teamwork and communication skills, for me these looked scary and high let alone to a 10 year old but they just take it in their stride.

How high is that.

These activities along with live music, inflatables, activities on Trentham lakes made for a fantastic event for the youngsters of Tamworth and Staffordshire.

Scouting along with other organised youth groups provide some fantastic life skills and a sense of belonging and worth in the world as well as fun, they do a great job and should be recognised.



Official Opening of Belgrave Community Fire station.

Guests witnessed a fantastic display of a rescue from a 2 storey property, The display took place in the training facilities built at Belgrave Community Fire Station.

My views are included in the start of the this video