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THE SALAMANDER | JULY 2018
Page 10
Fire Cadet Marine Unit cast’s off!
The Massey Shaw Education
Trust was pleased to host
the first session of the newly
founded Fire Cadet Marine
Unit aboard the fireboat at the
beginning of May.
The Marine Unit has been
organised with support of several
partner organisations, primarily
the RNLI, LFB River Service,
Massey Shaw (MS) Education
Trust and a generous donation
from the Worshipful Company’s
Charitable Trust. The young
people participating in the marine
activities have to undertake an
in-depth selection process and
demonstrate that they are willing
to commit to new challenges.
Each of the partners will be
providing knowledge on water
-based skills, based on their own
expertise. The MS Education Trust
has developed a programme which
informs the Cadets about the life
of a “floatie” on the Thames, and
how the fireboat was used to fight
fires and save lives during her
thirty-six years of service. One of
the highlights for the Cadets during
our session with them was to start
their rowing programme, helped by
members of the Docklands Scout
Project. Why you might ask would
fireboat crew need to be able to
row? Well in the early days when
the Insurance Companies started
to provide a fledgling fire service,
fireboats were rowed to incidents
by Watermen and Lightermen and
Firemen. The floaties as they were
called, rowed the floating barges
and their Manual Pumps to fires
and then rowed the hoses ashore
to provide land-based crew with
water. This practice continued
for many years, even when the
fireboats had their own mechanical
propulsion and would have been
an integral part of Massey Shaw’s
firefighting capability.
In more recent times, fireboat
crews showed their prowess by
participating in The Fishmongers
Cup Competition, rowing against
crews from the Port of London
Authority (PLA) and River Police.
Unfortunately, this Competition
is no longer undertaken, but we
hope that the Fire Cadets can
show their skills by participating
in the annual Great River(GR)
Race which takes place each
September. The GR Race started
in 1988, and last year over 300
rowing craft took part in the 21.6
mile course from Millwall Dock
(London Docklands) to Ham in
Surrey. We hope that the Marine
FireCadetswill be able to take part
in next year’s race and provide an
opportunity to raise funds for the
Worshipful Company’s Charitable
Trust.
MASSEY SHAW EDUCATION TRUST
Fire Cadet Marine Unit cast’s off!
David Rogers
CEO Massey Shaw
Education Trust