OFFICIAL
TYNE AND WEAR FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE
THE QUARTERLY NEWS LETTER FOR RETIRED MEMBERS
SEPTEMBER 2015 (ISSUE 50) – FUNDED BY THE SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB
50TH EDITION!!
The Old Hands Newsletter is celebrating its 50th edition this month which means it has been a regular publication for
the past 13 years.
The first edition was published in May 2002 and was the “brainchild” of Ian Robertson who at the time was a
Divisional Officer in Health and Safety.
Ian passed it on to his successor, Stuart Thompson, who took it to a new level and also did a fantastic job in creating
better links with our retired members and keeping them more informed on events.
Hopefully, with your help, I can maintain the standards set by the 2 previous editors and the “Old Hand” continues to
be a useful and worthwhile means of contact with the retired members.
SCOTTISH FIREFIGHTER WINS PENSIONS PAYOUT
A retired Firefighter has won a £550 million pay-out for thousands of emergency service workers after a five year
campaign for justice. Up to 34,000 former Firefighters and Police Officers are in line for windfalls worth tens of
thousands of pounds each after Billy Milne proved that a Government blunder short-changed them when they left
their jobs.
He, like many other 999 workers, gave up part of his annual pension payments in return for a lump sum on
retirement – but was left out of pocket because officials were years late in updating rules about how the value of his
pension was calculated. It emerged that rules on how much of an individual’s pension pot can be ‘commuted’ into a
lump sum had been updated in 2006 to take account of longer life expectancy, making funds more valuable overall.
He submitted his case to the Pensions Ombudsman in 2010, but it was delayed by legal challenges and it was not
until May this year that the regulator upheld his complaint.
Every Firefighter who retired with a lump sum between 1st December 2001 and 21st August 2006, the years when
the rules should have been updated, is now due a top-up. We will keep you updated on further developments.
CAR DRAW JULY 2015
PRIZE
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
WINNING
NUMBER
1582
1599
76
2009
2411
2141
1394
570
3854
4548
669
441
1617
3451
1698
1232
1453
537
3942
46
NAME
T O’Kane
S Dix
D Dixon
C Loader
F Elton
J Dabrowski
R Craig
J Brooks
P Hobson
C Tucker
J Martin
A Bosher
M Battle
J Bullen
D Linton
P Brookbanks
B Hammond
M Kirkbride
M Snaith
D Rowland
LOCATION
AMOUNT
J
Retired
Retired
Retired
Retired
Retired
Retired
Retired
Retired
C
Retired
Retired
Retired
N
Retired
Retired
Retired
K
SHQ
Retired
£8,000
£2,000
£1,000
£1,000
£500
£500
£400
£300
£300
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
£200
Although the first prize wasn’t won by a retired member what a
fantastic percentage of prizes won with 15 of the 20 prizes
going to retired members.
PRIZE DRAW AUGUST 2015
PRIZE
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
WINNING
NUMBER
310
20
853
121
657
450
1476
1972
607
293
1601
NAME
D McTomney
T Bilcliffe
M Warren
P Hopkins
M Longstaff
C Orr
A Henzell
S Graham
T Vaughan
J Stephenson
R Craig
LOCATION
AMOUNT
SHQ
Retired
C
C
M
SDHQ
Retired
S
V
Retired
Retired
£7,000
£500
£200
£100
£100
£100
£100
£100
£100
£100
£100
OFFICIAL
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
1803
841
1001
1231
267
S Pinder
M Harding
J Cooper
N Mortimer
A Mapplebeck
N
A
J
J
TSC
£100
£100
£100
£100
£100
Thank you to the following people who made donations after
their car draw wins: Arthur Boucher, John Thornby, Derek
Steinberg, Jeff Anderson, Jim Kershaw, Steve Stokoe, John
Martin, Derek Linton, Phil Hobson, Steve Dix and Fred Elton.
If you want to join or increase your numbers contact us in
Support Services on 0191 4441560.
Name
Alan Fowlie
Dorothy Thompson
OBITUARIES
Date of Death
23/07/2015
10/08/2015
Age
71
77
Our deepest sympathy and sincere condolences are
extended to the families of our departed friends and
colleagues.
CONTACT DETAILS
To hear of retirement functions, funeral services, events etc.
please register your email address – send to
peter.stronach@twfire.gov.uk Please remember to inform us
of any changes to your contact details.
Name
Ray Houghton
Jim McCabe
Brian Tinnion
Ged Bell
Martin Connolly
Michael Walls
Steve Lamb
David Convery
Gary Scorer
Ray Houghton
David Graham
Carole McAdam
Christopher Hall
RECENT RETIREMENTS
Location
S
J
A
A
MNFTC
F
SHQ
T
W
K
SHQ
M
TSC
Date
12/07/2015
16/07/2015
16/08/2015
16/08/2015
16/08/2015
01/06/2015
05/06/2015
14/06/2015
25/06/2015
12/07/2015
16/07/2015
16/08/2015
25/08/2015
FORTHCOMING RETIREMENTS
Name
Location
Date
Barry Marshall
K
09/09/2015
Kevin Bracchi
Y
22/09/2015
Barry Graham
G
10/10/2015
Peter Hamilton
E
13/10/2015
Tony Thompson
OHU
31/12/2015
Dave Royal
SHQ
02/01/2016
Martin McConnell
E
18/02/2016
NORTH DIVISION FIRE SAFETY REUNION
Andrew Kewbank has asked us to let you all know of another
th
night out for Fire Safety. It will take place on 9 September
2015 at 1930hrs in Lau’s 202 Buffet House, Newgate Street,
Newcastle. Drinks at Rosie’s Bar at 1900hrs first if interested.
All are welcome to attend. Please contact
Andrew.kewbank@btinternet.com to confirm attendance for
table numbers.
IAN WALKER R/W M & N
Ian and his wife Liz run a bed and breakfast in Campolongo
Sul Brenta, Veneto, Italy catering for people who enjoy cycling,
trekking or sightseeing. They are offering a 10% discount to
any firefighters interested in this type of holiday. Ian will also
pick you up from either Venice Marco Polo airport or Venice
Treviso airport. For further information checkout their website
www.benemax.biz/ or email benemaxmsi@hotmail.co.uk .
SPORTS AND SOCIAL TRIPS
27 – 29 November 2015 London
13 – 16 May 2016
Liverpool £199 per person staying
at the Radisson Blu Hotel
10 – 15 November 2016 New York £815 per person flying
from Manchester and staying at
The Wolcott Hotel.
For information and booking forms contact Lindsey Davidson
on 0191 444 1558, lindsey.davidson@twfire.gov.uk or Peter
Stronach on 0191 444 1560, peter.stronach@twfire.gov.uk .
MEMORIES
Peter Edmondson
I’m going back to the early 1970’s on my first watch, the Red
Watch at Hebburn, and a great bunch of old Firemen, which
included a not so old Fireman called Peter Edmondson, who is
sadly no longer with us.
We turned up one night at a house fire in Jarrow, all the action
was at the front of the house, Peter grabbed me and said lets
go round the back, and to our surprise was an old rickety
wooden ladder, it must have been 100 years old, that had
been pitched by neighbours in a gallant attempt to make a
rescue. Within seconds Peter said to me “foot that ladder and
don’t move”, me being a good little probationer I did as I was
told.
Peter disappeared up the ladder into thick black smoke
(without BA). What seemed like an eternity, but must have
been less than 2 minutes, he re-appeared coming back down
holding two very young kids and handed them to me. How he
managed to hold onto the ladder holding the kids is beyond
me. I remember thinking at the time WOW what a brilliant job
being a fireman is.
Now this made me laugh – workshop/garage on fire in Bill
Quay. Heavily smoked logged, 2 BA wearers, myself and
Peter, we could hear a big dog barking up ahead. All of a
sudden my BA partner disappeared. As you might guess he
fell into the pit where the angry Alsatian was.
I didn’t know a fireman could jump so high and move so fast,
but he was out of that pit in an instance with the dog biting his
backside. The funny thing was I think this happened twice
during Peter’s career.
Thanks to Jim Lincoln for the above stories.
And here’s one more:
OFFICIAL
As a newly promoted brigade petroleum officer I got a call from
a station about some dangerous storage conditions. I went
through all of the routine of taking samples to be tested while
the local ADO hung around making occasional ‘helpful’
comments.
When all the samples were taken and all the evidence was
collected, I went through the difficult process of cautioning the
occupier. When I got to the bit where I asked him if he had
anything to say that I would write down etc……
He said “If this stuffs so dangerous why is the fire chief
smoking a tab?”
Sure enough the ADO was having a smoke while he casually
examined the petrol samples.
“This stuffs not dangerous son” said the ADO “if I threw this tab
in a bucket of petrol it would just go out”. “Write that down as
well” said the occupier.
Back at HQ I reported to Tom Bennett who said “I don’t think
we can really go with this”. Tom was rarely wrong.
Thanks to Graham Butler for his story.
If you have anything you would like to share in the “Old Hand”
please send it to either Peter or Lindsey.