A BELATED ceremony took place over the weekend where members of the Heathcote Fire Brigade were presented with accolades for their years of commitment.<\/p>\n
The morning tea event took place on Sunday at the Heathcote Fire Station, with five members receiving life memberships and 16 members presented with long service awards.<\/p>\n
Brigade secretary Laraine Leask said the presentation was rewarding and long overdue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t done this for three years so there was a bit of a backlog of awards to be presented,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, I make sure we have this every year but we couldn\u2019t due to COVID. This year\u2019s culminated in 400 years of service with everyone included.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members, Carl Watkins, Graeme Reid, Carol Watkins, Fred Miller and Ms Leask were the life membership recipients.<\/p>\n
The long service awards ranged from five years of service to 65 years, with the latter medal delivered to recipient Harry Baptist\u2019s home following the presentation.<\/p>\n
Andrew Dickson from Fire Rescue Victoria presented the medals.<\/p>\n
Ms Leask said it\u2019s important to acknowledge their members\u2019 dedication.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve put in a lot of sacrifice over the years, and a lot of our members have gone on strike teams where they could be away for a week at a time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs volunteers, you don\u2019t think about whether it\u2019s going to interfere with your having lunch or anything like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had Black Saturday, we\u2019ve had Kilmore. These guys don\u2019t even think about it. They just go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just not enough medals for them. They\u2019re truly isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Heathcote Fire Brigade has 41 registered members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A BELATED ceremony took place over the weekend where members of the Heathcote Fire Brigade were presented with accolades for their years of commitment. The morning tea event took place on Sunday at the Heathcote Fire Station, with five members receiving life memberships and 16 members presented with long service awards. Brigade secretary Laraine Leask […]<\/p>\n