A gathering of 250-300 fire officers and their families attended the awards which were held at Severn Theatre. John Redmond, Chief Fire Officer, who bears a striking resemblance to Robbie Williams, gave a good speech, and Sir Algernon Heber-Percy HM Lord Lieutenant, Councillor Stuart West, and Councillor Chris Mellings handed out the awards. Six firefighters received Long Service and Good Conduct medals. The medals are awarded after 20 years’ service but they are not awarded automatically, only following a recommendation from the Chief Fire Officer that the recipient’s character and conduct have been worthy. Their wives and partners were also given miniature medals in recognition of their support during such a long, demanding and potentially dangerous service. This year Long Service Certificates were introduced for firefighters who had served for 30 years. As this was the first year, the recipients included people who had served for considerably more than 30 years – some for nearly 40. And of course the longest of all was Roger Smith of Market Drayton, the UK’s longest serving firefighter who is retiring after 48 years.

I had the honour of presenting the High Sheriff’s Award to someone who “has made a substantial contribution to society” – except I didn’t because the recipient, Tim Hughes, of White Watch Telford, couldn’t make it. Along with many others he had spent the day fighting a major fire at Alverley.   I hope to be meeting up with Tim next week. He ran 10 half marathons, a marathon and two ultra-marathons and raised over £1000 for the Air Ambulance. During the Stafford half marathon Tim suffered an injury but carried on and still finished in 1 hour 45 minutes. The injury turned out to be a broken foot!

Among other awards, three admirable men, Stuart Pugh, Sean Lane, and Dave Trow, who stopped to help the victims of a car crash, received the Chief Fire Officer’s Commendation. Their quick action with the fire extinguisher from their Veolia bin lorry put out the flames issuing from the car engine and prevented further injury to the seriously injured elderly occupants. They stayed with them until the Fire and Rescue service could arrive. Although only one of the men was able to attend the ceremony, their actions truly deserved this recognition.

It was a great evening and the firefighters wore their uniforms with great pride.

Top photo: Shropshire’s Chief Fire Officer, John Redmond