I surprised myself...

Post by Apprentice Community Safety Advisor Ryan Williams

During my time as an apprentice with GMFRS I have attended a number of events - often centred around health and/or safety- but only in a supportive capacity as in the setting up and operation of a stall on behalf of the Service.

Recently however, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to take ownership of an event for the first time.

A young persons’ health day hosted by the fire service at Hyde Station on Tuesday, February 19, that I was tasked with organising.

Having never planned any kind of event previously I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.

And this activity involving a number of other agencies certainly proved to be a challenge.

From booking vehicles and liaising with other agencies as well as a wide range of staff members at headquarters, Hyde Fire Station and many others to supplying refreshments to providing all the agencies with the necessary number of tables (harder than it sounds!).

It’s only now that I truly appreciate the magnitude of the planning and labour required to keep an event like this running smoothly.

Having said that, I was able to arrange a fairly commendable day of information and activities that at the very least appealed to the young people who attended.

I’ve surprised myself somewhat and hopefully proved what I and indeed any one of the apprentices is capable of.

Despite the stress and various obstacles that are inevitable in putting something like this together, I look forward to the prospect of any further involvement in planning an event that may come my way in the future.

Oh, and a big thank you to the five volunteers who helped out on the day and the agencies that were present who made it all possible.

What a memorable day!

Post by Apprentice Community Safety Advisor Gary Manville:

Yesterday was a busy day for me, I was travelling across Greater Manchester helping out with an exciting charity event over in Whitehill - I can't tell you about it yet as it's under wraps but rest assured, I'll be writing more about it next month when it's made public.

After the activity in Whitehill, I travelled over to Bolton to prepare for my first presentation. Little did I know that I’d be presenting not only to members of the public in my local area  but to the Bolton Councillors. I was talking about issues in the community and public safety.

The nerves you get building up to your first presentation is unreal but oddly feel fun. During the presentation i could feel all the eyes on me and people listening. It's odd to feel at 23-years-old that so many were listening and taking note about what I said.

The day got even better after I got a phone call from a group called Retrak who work with the fire service and police to help street kids in Uganda and Ethiopia. What they do is find street children and take them in to help their lives change for the better. Over the years they have built a community building, accommodation and have started teaching them life skills. It all began as a football club giving the kids an escape and has built up from there. During the phone call I got told I’ve been accepted and am able to go to Ethiopia in November - now I just can’t wait to get to the fundraising and then fly over to do my bit.

Salford Interfaith Annual Group Meeting

Post by Apprentice Community Safety Advisor Christian Krebs:

I attended the Salford Interfaith Annual Group Meeting on Wednesday, February 20, where we had a stall providing information regarding Home Safety Checks and fire safety advice for the public.

We discussed escape plans, safe cooking and overall fire safety in the home and allowed members of the public to take some of the information home to read in their own time and to practice their escape plans with the family.

We were also able to organise several Home Safety Checks for people in Salford.

At the AGM there were many different people from different organisations as well as the Mayor of Salford and many religious leaders of various faiths.  The Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd also attended to show his support to the community.

This was the first event held in Swinton to bring together people from different faiths from the surrounding community and the purpose of the meeting was to show not only the differences but also the similarities many of the religions share.

Post by Apprentice Community Safety Advisor Francesca Martinelli:

I arrived into work today for a meeting with a colleague, so nothing too out of the ordinary.

However, I was informed by one of my team in Manchester Central Station that there would be some promotional work to encourage the Ban The Pan message promoting cooking safety.

I said at the time when asked, that I would be happy to get involved and spread the message.

What I did not realise is that what I was actually being asked to do was join in a video that was about to go in front of the rest of the world on Youtube!

The first I knew of the plans for the GMFRS Harlem Shake was when I was I was handed a pan followed by - for some reason that is still unknown to me - a tiger!

I had a fantastic afternoon filming for the video and thoroughly enjoyed being part of this fantastic new way of getting our safety messages out to the public.

I would definitely get involved again with any future videos.

Who knows next time I may even bring my own stuffed animals?!

Freehold residents safer in their homes thanks to GMFRS

Post by Apprentice Community Safety Advisor Billy Dean:

I was recently at Freehold flats in Rochdale for an action day aimed at giving residents fire safety information.

In December there were two fires at these flats so we went out to try and educate people so no more incidents occur.

The day went very well and despite the heavy snow fall there was a lot of interest, especially in Cracker!

Lots of the public showed great interest and they were made aware of the dangers of fire.

The day went really well and information was given to everyone, but it was also a fun and exciting day.

I'm looking forward to doing more events like this in the future.

Experience of an apprentice

Post by Apprentice Community Safety Advisor Chris Toon:

We have spent just over four months as employees of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. It has been an extremely exciting experience so far, not to mention an eye opening one.

We have started writing this blog to highlight the need for apprentices and how we make a difference across the organisation.

Over the coming weeks, we will be displaying pictures and stories showing the work we have been involved in and how it has benefitted members of the public as well as our colleagues.

Currently, we are promoting the work we do as apprentices to raise our public profile due to our involvement with the Brathay Challenge and National Apprenticeship Week.

Over the next few weeks we will show the activities we participate in, ranging from checking somebody’s smoke alarm at home whilst completing a full Home Safety Check, to being out on the street providing safety information with a public awareness campaign.

We don’t want to spoil the surprise by letting you in on too much that we are doing so you will just have to keep coming back to this page to find out...

New Beginnings

At the start of the first week, we were brought into Manchester's training centre and proudly presented with our uniforms.

By the end of the first week, we were well integrated into our own boroughs and new teams, right across Greater Manchester.

This helped us quickly feel the sense of family within the service that we had been told existed and which we felt proud after such a rigorous recruitment process to finally join.

Within the first month, we met with Peter O’Reilly, Director of Prevention and Protection.

He congratulated us for being successful getting through the recruitment process and gaining the apprenticeship.

He went on to explain some of his own experiences in the 27 years he had been part of the service. His fondness and passion for the job, even after a long successful career was still evident which just encouraged us further.

Since then, we have toured the stations across our boroughs to familiarise ourselves with staff and the crews operating within them.

We have started to perform tasks and events within our own boroughs to help highlight dangers to the public and help minimising risk to individuals and families.

We have assisted in joint projects which have allowed us to develop our understanding of working with organisations such as Greater Manchester Police (we worked on Operation Stay Safe with them – read more about that here) and assisted in making many valuable contacts to aid us further in the future.

One of the main areas however, that we feel we have been able to impact on is the education of the younger generations.

To a child, we apprentices are viewed as more approachable for discussions as we of a similar age and understanding to themselves.

This has shown the extraordinary steps that Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service has taken to move with the times and revolutionise the way we provide messages to make them as effective as possible to their audience.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time within the organisation so far and we continue to look for new challenges to sink our teeth into.

Thank you for reading and make sure you are checking the page regularly for updates on our work.