Another successful lunch with 53 of our members attending to enjoy the amazing food, company and surroundings.
Thank you East Avenue Restaurant for the excellent achievements of the students in providing yet another delicious meal.
Below is a selection of photographs taken at the event.
Over forty of our members enjoyed the spring sunshine in beautiful Bath, followed by a matinee performance of the hit musical ‘Calender Girls’ at the famous Theatre Royal. Below are a few pictures from the event.
The Firefighters Memorial Trust is pleased to relaunch its Book of Remembrance, in tribute to those members of the fire service who have died in the course of their duties, following a period of absence due to the original online hosting company
ceasing trading.
Our new version of the book is still in the process of being built but that process has reached the point when we can once again remember and pay tribute to those we seek to honour.
Further work will in due course permit us to once again record those members of the fire service who died as a result of military service, dating back to the Second Boer War and those ‘Fire Guards’, and ‘Fire Watchers’ who died as a result of their duties during World War 2, in addition to our main listing of those members of the fire service who have died in the course of their duties.
A future project will be to provide a listing with images of any memorial, plaque or
tablet around the UK, commemorating members of those who have died in the course of their duties, before the passage of time masks their existence. Such a project has never been attempted before. You can help if you know of any. A photograph would be even better.
Firefighters Remembered | Book of Remembrance. Please share the link.
We had another great lunch at Eastleigh College, below are some photos from the event (and ‘No’, Andy (our Chairman) didn’t turn up in his pyjamas)!
Below are the relevant details to copy and take to your doctor’s surgery to be added to your medical records.
If you were a serving firefighter this will highlight the fact that you may have been exposed to contaminants in the past.
We attended Fire Service HQ on 11 November 2023 to lay a wreath at the memorial, in memory of colleagues who lost their lives in the course of duty.
Our wreath is second from left.
We enjoyed a very successful event held at Wellow Golf Club.
Our skittles champion was Tony Hobbs, below is a picture of Tony receiving his award from Eddie Winter – congratulations Tony!
You may remember that back in April we posted a message from former Hampshire Fire Officer, Frank Bowen, who was fundraising for The Fire Fighters Charity by cycling from London to Brighton on 18 June 2023.
Well Frank has completed his challenge and below is a message from Frank, along with a link to a very entertaining account of the event.
“I was very grateful to you all for publicising my fundraising effort for the Firefighters’ Charity through the PMA, and I’ve been able to raise a total of £650 for them which is brilliant!
Attached is the narrative I’ve written after riding the British Heart Foundation’s London to Brighton bike ride with Mike Stead and his family on Sunday (18 June), you can read this by clicking the link: Frank’s account of his London to Brighton Cycle Ride in aid of The Fire Fighters Charity.“
On Sunday 18 June 2023, Frank is going to cycle from London to Brighton on behalf of The Fire Fighters Charity.
It’s a 54 mile+ ride and includes the infamous Ditchling Beacon hill climb just before the end, (it gets steeper as you ascend and seemingly goes on forever!)
If you would like to support Frank please visit his justgiving page, where you can read more about his story and also donate: Frank Ian Bowen is fundraising for The Fire Fighters Charity (justgiving.com).
Below are photographs from another lovely lunch; food and service were amazing – a great opportunity to catch up with friends.
Below are a selection of photographs from events recently attended by Association members:
Below are some photographs of our recent visit to Kew Gardens which was enjoyed by 45 members and partners:
A great time was had by all at our AGM and Pig Racing Evening, here are a few photographs of the event.
We had a very successful lunch event at Eastleigh College at the end of March 2022, with over 50 of our members attending and enjoying very good food and company. It was especially good getting back to some sense of normality. Below are a few photos from the lunch.
Hampshire Police and Fire Heritage Trust is holding a Memorabilia and Collectors Fayre on the 16 and 17 July 2022, from 10am until 4pm on both days.
The event promises to be a great location for the family to visit and see:
The event will take place at the Solent Sky Museum, Albert Road South, Southampton, SO14 3FR. The usual admission fee applies.
The Winter 2021 issue of the Shout! Magazine is out now and available to read online and in the new app, MyFFC – along with new, exclusive videos.
This issue introduces the new wellbeing, fundraising and social media portal for the fire services community – giving readers a step-by-step guide on how to get started, while highlighting what they can expect to find once registered. It also covers all the latest news, shares more powerful stories from beneficiaries, introduces the new Covid Recovery Programme and shares expert advice on looking after joints and musculoskeletal health.
Read Shout! Magazine Winter 2021
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service has supported The Fire Fighters Charity by collecting over 469 tonnes of clothing for re-sell, re-use or recycling since 2010, generating an amazing contribution of £93,183 for the Charity.
Table 1 in the Clothes Recycling Performance Report (see link below), highlights the total income generated and total weight collected, since the clothing bank was first placed at the fire station.
View HIWFRS Clothes Recycling Performance Report 2010 to 2021.
A page dedicated to the memory of Jim Barrett has been set up on muchloved.com, where you can:
Today was the PMA lunch at Eastleigh College, and what a good time was had by all.
The food and company were great, and the student team at the College were amazing. We were grateful to be back at the College for the first time since Covid restrictions have been eased.
If you weren’t able to join us, below are some photographs of the event.
‘The Book I Hope You Never Have To Read…’ has been written by Chris Pearson, the son-in-law of Philip Griffiths, our Association’s former Treasurer.
Chris (and Phil) hope that this book might bring support and guidance to any of our members, their families and friends finding themselves in a similar situation.
Phil gives some background to the book:
“Two years ago, two months before Christmas 2019, my then 3 year old granddaughter was diagnosed with leukaemia. This necessitated a long stay in Southampton General with her father continuously with her. Her father took the brunt of staying with her as my daughter was looking after an 8 month old sibling and keeping their business going.
My granddaughter is making progress but there is still a long way to go. Her father decided to write a book with the aim of getting some information, thoughts and guidance into the hands of people to hopefully help them through similar traumatic events by sharing some of his personal experiences and challenges.”
The book is only available to buy online through Amazon (£3.99 paperback version) or via the Amazon Kindle (£2.99).
Seventy pence from every purchase will go to either of the charities ‘Cure Leukaemia’ or ‘Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group’. No monies are taken or received by anyone other than Amazon and the charities.
Click the link to purchase or find out more about ‘The Book I Hope You Never Have To Read’ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Hope-Never-Have-Read/dp/B099TH7654/ref=kwrp_li_std_nodl
From your Kindle, go into ‘search’ and enter the title: ‘The Book I Hope You Never Have To Read’. This will bring the book up and if you wish to purchase click on ‘buy’.
The Hampshire Police and Fire Heritage Trust have launched their new website. Chair of the Trust, Alan House, said that that although there is still work to be done on the site, the decision was made to launch it as a source to provide heritage information related to the Fire and Rescue Service and to the Constabulary. It is hoped that this can be a useful portal for anyone doing research or who are just curious about the proud histories of both public services and how they have served the communities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight over many decades. The Trust has strong ties with the PMA, with a number of its members involved on the weekly work days, building the exhibits and renovating the many artefacts in the collection.
There have been many changes and additions in the Trusts home at the Solent Sky museum as a whole over the past 6 months. The Fire and Police team are busy creating their third display room and they have been instrumental in the creation of a brand new World War 2 ‘Home Front’ experience area. Work on this is ongoing and it will be open to the public later this year – Covid restrictions permitting.
Being an independent museum, the restrictions over the past months have had a significant financial impact and as these restrictions lift, everyone looks forward to welcoming new and returning visitors.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service Past Members Association 