Awards have been handed out to dozens of staff who help keep West Norfolk safe.
Bosses at Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service have been giving out employee awards honouring colleagues for long service, fundraising, leadership and making a difference.
The full list of awards are:
Ashley Baldwin and Volunteer Rosie Richardson won the cadet category, as despite cadets being unable to meet through the pandemic, they kept in contact with our cadets to check on their welfare and support them emotionally.
Rob Laws received the fundraiser of the year award for organising a motorcycle rally, raising £2,300 for The Fire Fighters charity. During the event he delivered vital safety and recruitment messages to audiences around Norfolk.
Volunteer of the year went to the Rapid Relief Team who support crews with catering services at major incidents.
Emyr Gough, who is based in the central district, and Greg Preston, who is head of fire prevention and protection, both received Inspirational Leader awards.
Payroll’s Mary Harpley, Technical Support’s Andy Dungar and our Youth Development Team all won Making a Difference awards for their exceptional efforts during the pandemic ways of working.
Outstanding contribution to pandemic response awards went to:
Five staff working in Norfolk’s temporary mortuary- Clive Wells, John Linden, Ash Cawston, Natalie Rushton and Spencer Whalley.
The driver training team who moved medical equipment, PPE and trained EEAST drivers.
The NHS Support team, Gavin Smith, Barry Clarke, Roger Mitchell, Stefan Rider, Clive Denniss, John Baker, Terry Pinto, who implemented our response to the NHS by finding suitable NFRS staff to assist with tasks including staffing vaccination centres, and deploying them into the NHS.
Our Supplies Team – Britt Murray and Steve Woodgate – for their efforts in supplying PPE to all teams and working under extreme pressure.
Community safety team members Kristie Burdett, Gosia Zielinska and Rob Kemp-Small for continuing to work with vulnerable and high-risk cases across Norfolk’s communities, providing education and carrying out fire prevention work.
Awards were also unable to be presented in 2020 to their recipients, due to the ongoing pandemic. Those awards recipients were:
Fundraiser of the Year: Louis Tidswell (Fire Fighters Charity)
Volunteer of the Year: Gary Szabo (youth development Teams volunteer)
Cadet of the Year: Sofia Legood
Pioneer: John Linden
Inspirational Leader: Mike Walton, Steven Hornby, Terry Pinto
Making a Difference: Bree Cooke, Steven Woodgate, Andy Saunders, Gavin Smith
Chief Fire Officer Awards: Starr Aylmer & Leigh Webster (Members of the Public), Michelle Boon & Samantha Hancox (Members of the Public), Reepham On-Call Crew, Clive Wells, George Bray, North Earlham Red Watch, Sue Rogers.
Cabinet Member’s Award: Leigh Prior, Hugo Douglas-Deane and Karen Rowley
Alongside the category awards, long service awards recognising a total of 1,355 years of service were given out. These included, for 2021,
43 x long service good conduct 20 Year Medals for operational firefighters and six 20 Year Service certificates for other team members. The 20 Year Service certificates for 2021 were awarded to:
Carol Keach, Sally Green, Eleanor Foster, Claire Boer, Mark Andrews and Amanda Bailey.
The 2021 long service good conduct 20 Year Medals went to:
Barry Allen
Simon Atkin
Robert Bateman
Simon Britcher
Robert Burling
Alan Burrage
Allan Cook
Robert Curtis
Gary Davison
Clive Denniss
Thomas Diaper
Mark Duff-Dick
James Duncan
Paul Edwards
Ashley Elvin
John Folkes
Daniel Godward
Ben Grant
Neil Hambling
Ryan Hastings
Shaun Hearn
Ian Herdman
Lucian Hodkinson
Steven Hornby
Peter Hurn
John Jacobs
Mark Johnson
Jonathan Kennell-Webb
Rigil Kent
James Little
Paul Meen
Marcus Mollicone
Paul Owen
Gavin Plummer
Simon Ruff
David Smithson
Phillip Soanes
Lee Spiers
Ian Stolworthy
Daniel Stoker
Philip Tinkley
Dean Watson
Adrian Wilder
Three x 30 Year Service certificates – Philip Neeve, Gary Miller and Barry Clarke.
Seven x 35 Year Service certificates – Jonathan Wilby, Douglas Kelly, Gary Thorpe, Stephen Broom, John Baker, Stephen Booth and Joanne Baker.
One x 40 Year Service Certs – James Groom.
2020’s long service awards, accounting for a total of 1,130 years of service, were:
20 x long service good conduct 20-year medals and five x 20 Year Service certificates. The 20 Year Service certificate for 2020 were awarded to: Susan Barber, Barbara Coulson, Phillip Hall, Melissa Steward and Dale Mann.
The 20 Year medals were awarded to:
James Belcher
Paul Browne
Steven Cole
Andrew Cracknell
Mark Endersby
David Fraser
Peter Greeves
Thaine Hacon
Luke Hancock
Martin Harris
James Hilton
Simon Hilton
Stephen Keen
Jason Legg
Scott Norman
Matthew Oxborrow
Jennifer Schamp
Jonathon Smith
Timothy Squires
Daren Taylor
11 x 30 Year Service certificates –
Robert Ayers, Philip Bland, Simon Forth, Greg Platford, Michael Reeve, Stephen Bond, Barry Rudd, Michael Walton, Clive Wells, Deborah Whitby, Ricky Wright
Four x 35 Year Service certificates – Stuart Baxter, Andrew Dungar, Kenneth Wallis-Gare, Carl Mills
Four x 40 Year Service certificates – Gary Pegg, Carolyn Stevens, David Abbs, Mick Whitby