Cambs FRS: Excellence and exemplary service celebrated at CFRS awards
Excellence and exemplary service were celebrated at the annual Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) Long Service and Excellence Awards.
Taking place at the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel on Thursday (January 26), the event celebrated the achievements of staff from across different areas of the Service, highlighting outstanding accomplishments throughout the year. The commitment, dedication and professionalism of staff regularly going above and beyond to provide the best possible service to the people of Cambridgeshire were all celebrated by around 120 guests.
Hosting the event was Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland together with Assistant Chief Fire Officer Jon Anderson, with Deputy Chief Executive Matthew Warren and Head of Media and Communication Hayley Douglas, leading the ceremony.
The following awards were presented throughout the evening:
- Long Service and Good Conduct medal - presented under a Royal Warrant for members of the uniformed service after completing 20 years of long and meritorious service to the fire and rescue service and the public. These were presented by Deputy Lieutenant Mr Chris Parkhouse DL.
- Long Service presentations – staff celebrated for reaching milestones of service, presented by the chief fire officer.
- Fire Authority Chair’s awards - an award made to retired staff and leavers that have completed at least 25 years' service with CFRS.
- Excellence Awards - these awards reflect a variety of different achievements that were nominated by staff in the Service and chosen by a judging panel.
- Commendation - to recognise the commendable actions of a member of staff or the public.
Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland said: “Our awards allow us to celebrate all the hard work and dedication shown by staff and to thank them and their families for providing great support.
“It gives me immense pride to be able to recognise the achievements of so many members of staff from across the different areas of the Service. The passion, enthusiasm and professionalism shown by our winners, as well as the years of commitment shown by those receiving long service awards, is truly inspiring. It demonstrates just how devoted our staff are to providing a first class service to the people of Cambridgeshire.
“Being able to celebrate our staff achievements in this way would not be possible without the continued support of our sponsors. I must say a big thank you to all the organisations that contributed to the evening.”
The cost for the event was paid for by the generosity of the following organisations:
- TruckEast and Scania
- Emergency One
- SCC
- Ingleton Wood
- Crofton Engineering
- Interspiro
Raffle prizes were also donated by Supply Plus, Scania, SCC, Max Fire, Woodway Engineering, CMT Flexibles, Whirlpool, East Anglian Auctions, and Meraki Hair Design in St Ives.
The list of awards and recipients are included below:
Long Service and Good Conduct medal recipients
Awarded after completing 20 years' long and meritorious service to the fire and rescue service and the public.
- Ian Cuthill
- Holly Golder
- Dale Pickstone
Long Service presentation
- Paul Stephens, 30 years
- Paul Clarke, 30 years
Fire Authority Chair's Award
Presented to staff that have recently retired or left the Service having completed at least 25 years' service.
- Adrian Bradshaw
- Heather Day
- Jenni Illingworth
- Trevor Lindsay
Excellence Awards
Sarah Ribbons and Amanda Shepherd, Business Intelligence and Performance
Despite being under resourced for most of the year, Amanda and Sarah have continued to respond to increasing demands while always displaying a can-do attitude. They have developed themselves to deliver more and save the Service money.
Hayley Douglas
In her role as an ambassador for Menopause, Hayley has been working to raise awareness and improve the working lives of women going through menopause at CFRS. She has been leading the way in the sector, welcoming external speakers and hosting menopause events, engaging with women about issues and implementing recommendations.
Steve Coe and Andy Powell, March fire station
On-call firefighters Andy and Steve have been recognised for responding to a casualty in cardiac arrest while off-duty. The casualty was revived at the roadside and is at home making a full recovery.
Cambridge Pride team
A team from across the Service came together to support one of the largest Pride events in the county. The team organised and attended the event, engaging with the community and showcasing more about what we do as a Service.
Charlotte Black
Charlotte changed positions and has worked incredibly hard to learn the new role without a mentor as other team members had moved onto pastures new. Charlotte has persevered every step of the way to deliver the service required, demonstrating great resilience and always with a positive attitude.
Combined Fire Control
For excellent pre-planning and dealing with the summer spate conditions including the busiest days on record when they were also supporting fire services up and down the was country as Operation Willowbeck was implemented nationally.
Dogsthorpe White Watch
The crew were commended for going above and beyond following safeguarding concerns at an incident in January of last year. They were also recognised for the organisation of their open day, raising thousands for charity, and for their training partnership with EEAST.
Kate Heath and Jo Shippey
For rolling out the Fire Fit Boot Camp in Sawston and supporting the on-call recruitment initiative.
Odette Tattersall and Graeme Browning
Odette and Graeme have been working together to develop stories and illustrations to engage and educate young children. The Jet the Dragon series has now been shared on Staywise, a national resource for schools to get emergency services educational materials.
Paul Clarke
Paul was recognised for his consistent high level of commitment to promote equality, diversity and inclusion across Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and our local communities.
Littleport on-call
The crew have been recognised for the way they responded to a fatal road traffic collision in Chittering last October.
Lynda Egland
Lynda has made a positive impact at Service Headquarters since she joined the team by going above and beyond to keep the building clean and tidy. The difference she has made has been noticed by everyone who works there.
Chris Dunham
For responding to a plea for help on Facebook, helping a member of the public who’d had a fall in the home, while he was off duty.
Resource Management Unit (RMU)
For consistently going above and beyond, particularly throughout the Covid pandemic and during spate conditions this summer, often working outside of office hours in their own time to ensure the Service had enough firefighters to crew the fire engines.
Matt Rees and Alex Charlick
Matt and Alex have been recognised for their work to improve the process to notify local resilience forum partners of major incidents by developing an app.
Special Recognition
Tracey Stradling and Graham Wiggins
Colleagues Tracey Stradling and Graham Wiggins were given special recognition for their commitment over many years to source sponsorship for the Awards ceremony, ensuring it provides excellent value for money for the Service.
James Ball
James was formally presented with a ‘Highly commended’ Partnership Working Award certificate from the NFCC for his work on a collaboration with Anglian Water, which helps us reach vulnerable people in our communities and helps us make them safer in their homes.
Certificate of Commendation to external parties
James Walsh
For his outstanding contribution and partnership working resulting in the fantastic new building the Service has for the new Huntingdon Fire Station and Training Centre.
Babraham Institute
For supporting emergency service training by providing a realistic venue for a large-scale multi-agency exercise day.