Spirit of Fire Awards 2010

Attending the Spirit of Fire awards last Friday proved to be one of the most humbling experiences of my life.  Hosted in the Bobby Moore Room at Wembley stadium, it was attended by an assortment of amazing people coming together to celebrate and recognise bravery within the fire services community.

Hearing about their achievements was astounding and every single person deserves our admiration and respect. The most touching stories of the night came from the nominees of the Child Hero award.  The winner, Tyler Holpin, rescued SIX children from a burning building by climbing a ladder to their window and carrying them out one by one! A true hero – especially as Tyler is only 15 years old!

My night started off in a somewhat comical manner as I was asked to stand behind Martha (out of sight!) while Steve was being interviewed for BBC Radio London. Apparently my ‘monkey like face’ was too distracting for him! After the hurt of the initial insult had worn off the real work started as the guests and celebrities began to arrive.

FTFE were situated at the entrance to the awards and Martha was the back drop for the ‘paparazzi’ who were covering the event.  First to arrive was Charley Boorman (of Long Way Round) who was immediately snared by Steve for about 20 minutes and given a whistle stop tour of what we at FTFE are doing and what we hope to achieve – Charley absolutely loved the expedition! He passed on some great tips from his own adventure traveling the world on a motorbike with Ewan McGregor. We still have much to learn but I think he was impressed at how far we have already come.  Then, in a 2 hour blur, we were graced by the likes of Bruce Forsyth and his lovely wife Wilnelia Merced, Jenny Powell, Simon Weston, Stuart Maconie, Martin Lewis and Lara Lewington, Sascha Kindred and Nyree Lewis to name but a few! It was exciting to see the positive reaction from all the stars – they were loving it! It’s amazing that the work we’re doing and the FTFE trip is being SO well received and that word of FTFE is being spread far and wide. I think in the end we managed to stop just about every single person attending the awards ceremony and make sure they didn’t pass without a FTFE leaflet being shoved into their hands!  I think most of them thought they had to stop as I looked like the ticket inspector at the top of the red carpet!!

A big thank you to the Fire Fighters Charity for inviting us along, and a special thank you to Ali and Stephanie who looked after us for the night. Tasty steak and great dancing.  Cheers guys.

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