being a retained FireFighter in Suffolk
Thirteen in the bed and the little one said…
Roll over, roll over…
For the next two weeks the Brigade Training School at Normanshurst is playing host to a retained firefighter recruits course. And its great to see that the course has a whopping 13 recruits (the number of recruits not the size of them!). Just what Suffolk Fire and Rescue needs, especially as it’s been in the news just last week admitting that some stations are off the run for possibly hours a day.
But it seems that someone forgot that there are just 11 beds in the recruits dormitory. So they’ve either got to get friendly very quickly and perhaps sleep top to toe or some other more suitable arrangement will have been found… Hmm…
And, in what smacks of wartime Britain and not a 21st Century Fire Service, two of the recruits are sleeping on mattresses on the floor! One is in the Union reps office and the other in an old ADO’s office. That’s far from ideal. These guys have got a hectic two weeks ahead of them and it will be physically challenging. To then face a nights sleep on the floor really isn’t good enough.
I know that it’s good for team building to keep the course together but couldn’t the Fire Service splash out and find a local B&B? These guys are new to the Fire Service and most probably will not complain about the sleeping arrangements. But I can’t see this being allowed to happen if the course was for more loftier ranks than these recruits.
Well, next week the Princess Royal will visit the nice shiny new fire station and all will be well with the world. Normanshurst and the training school will be nicely and neatly, swept under the carpet…
I’ll let you know whether this post offends anyone. It probably will…
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– IAN CARTER (www.accessiblewebsites.co.uk)
