Retired Firefighters & Fire Service Personnel

www.ex-fire.co.uk

Martin  &  Sheila Jackson

Hi, I’m ‘Chick’ real name Martin but, not a lot of people know that.  I worked in the Fire Service workshops at Kettering, just after the amalgamation of the Northampton Borough Brigade and the Northamptonshire County Brigade took place, it was called an amalgamation but, could by some be called a take-over by the county.

 

I enjoyed my time in workshops as it gave me the opportunity to meet and work with members of every station in the county.  There were some sad times with the loss of firefighters just doing their job.

 

On a happier note I made some great bonds with ‘The Borough Boys’ (they know who they were), and the County Lads, many of whom still keep in touch.

 

I was also a retained firefighter at both Kettering and Rushden, until I had to retire due to ill health (MS).

 

After I retired I needed to be kept in the manner to which I had become accustomed, so I sent the wife to work, and I busied myself as much as I could.

 

I appreciate all the help that was given to me and my family by and on behalf of the Ben Fund.  Which I hope I have been able to repay in some small way.

 

I spent a spell as secretary for the Northamptonshire Retired Firefighters.

 

Now that the ‘boss’ has finally hung up her epaulettes we now live the quiet life in sunny Spain, keeping busy doing the web site.

I spent 23 years in the Control Room, in this time I worked on every watch, spending the last years on white watch.  I also saw a few changes, when I first joined the control room was just one small room at Kettering fire station and still using the pen and paper system.  During my time of service the control room relocated to Fire Service Headquarters and changed to computerised mobilising.

 

I enjoyed my time in the Fire Service not least because I was able to meet a lot of people with outstanding personalities.  I am also lucky that a lot of these people remain good friends.

 

Following my decision to retire, this being decided mainly due to the way the service was going, we finally got to do what we had been planning for a number of years.  That being to sell up and move lock, stock and kitchen sink to sunny Spain, so we put our house up for sale and purchased a property in Spain on the Costa Blanca.

 

What I didn’t expect was that after waiting nearly 12 months to sell things would suddenly happen so quickly, I was on annual leave when our sale took a sudden leap forward, within 3 days we had signed contracts, handed in my notice, booked a flight and actually moved into our new house.

 

I have to say that I have taken to the spanish way of life and, although I miss some of the people, I don’t miss work especially getting up on cold winter mornings.