WITH many of the region\u2019s fire brigades holding belated awards nights throughout the year, it was Shelford\u2019s turn to honour its volunteers over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Taking place on Saturday, more than 30 members took part in the brigade\u2019s the first service awards ceremony in close to a decade.<\/p>\n
Shelford CFA community safety coordinator Stephen Gilligan said the range of medals highlighted the breadth of experience in the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of people with five-year medals which shows we\u2019ve got a lot of newbies. It\u2019s a good thing for us because it means we\u2019ve got a lot of people coming up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen our oldest member, we recognised 50 years for him. We totalled 865 years of service that afternoon. We\u2019ve got a good spread of younger members and longer-serving members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means there\u2019s a whole heap of people there that this town can rely on if there\u2019s an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event saw 32 medals handed out by Brendan Lawson, Assistant Chief Fire Officer for District 7.<\/p>\n
Many brigades service award ceremonies have had to be delayed due to the pandemic, with Mr Gilligan estimating it\u2019d been about seven years since Shelford\u2019s last one.<\/p>\n
Mr Gilligan received his own award for 15 years of service and said it was great to be acknowledged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a believer in serving the community,\u201d he said. \u201cTo have those years of service recognised was an honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere was fantastic. We started off with a barbecue lunch and got to tell old war stories. We\u2019re looking forward to supporting each other this year into the next fire season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WITH many of the region\u2019s fire brigades holding belated awards nights throughout the year, it was Shelford\u2019s turn to honour its volunteers over the weekend. Taking place on Saturday, more than 30 members took part in the brigade\u2019s the first service awards ceremony in close to a decade. Shelford CFA community safety coordinator Stephen Gilligan […]<\/p>\n