An Admin message popped up on the turnout printer yesterday:

“New firefighter helmets to be worn as of 1800hrs on Tuesday 14th April…”

So, halfway through my bangers and mash, watching the six o’clock news, I’ll don my Gallet helmet and finish my tea as the present Mrs. C looks on bemusedly.

I’ll be glad to get the changeover out of the way. There’s far too many white cardboard boxes kicking about at the Fire Station, either still with a shiny new helmet inside or discarded carelessly by the ‘excited’ recipient!

And the next time we turn up at a decent job, we’ll be inundated with white helmets. No longer the preserve of the great and good (the officer class), all the watch managers will be topped out with a white helmet too…

From brass helmets, through cork ones and the outgoing Cromwells, we now move to the Gallet with its full cranial protection – possibly a bit late for most of us.

Keep your eyes peeled for self-conscious firefighters across Suffolk as they hit the streets in their new helmets – me included!

– IAN CARTER (www.accessiblewebsites.co.uk)