Charitable Trust Fund-Raising Dinner

In a departure from our normal calendar of events we held a Fund-Raising Dinner for our Charitable Trust in the Palace of Westminster on September 4th. We dined in the elegant surroundings of the Churchill Room, hosted by Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East. Bob has chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fire Safety & Rescue for some years and he is also the Chairman of the 1922 Committee.

The event was a sell-out and drew participants from amongst our membership and from across the fire industry, as well as the fire and rescue services. Our City guests were Past Master Educator Richard Evans and Lay Sheriff-Elect David Chalk, Past Master Draper.

The evening started with a short introduction by Past Master Maltby, outlining the work of our Charitable Trust. At the conclusion of the meal the Master, David Holt, thanked Bob Blackman for hosting the dinner and presented him with one of our limited edition plates. The plate shows a picture of a child being rescued by a firefighter by the Victorian artist Charles Vigour and is entitled Saved.

The Master also spoke about some specific examples of the work supported by our Charitable Trust, including donations to a summer Burns Camp for children who are survivors of burns injuries and support for Fire Service Cadet Groups.

This was an evening enjoyed by all those who attended and the consensus view was that the event should be repeated next year, if Parliamentary support is forthcoming. Participants were very generous, and the Charitable Trust received £3000 in donations.

Once more, our sincere thanks to Bob Blackman MP for his support of the dinner.