Support for the team comes from all sorts of surprising and unexpected sources, but when medical equipment officer Mark Scott was approached by a work colleague of his, John Washington, the nature of that support was unusual indeed. John’s father, whose name was also John, died in early January 2008 of a stroke following a period of illness. When he was well he was a keen collector of all sorts of things linked to the military especially helmets, which he had expert knowledge of, but also watches and knives. John’s father left a fine collection of practical, multi-purpose knives especially Swiss Army knives and John wondered whether the team would be able to make use of the collection, as he felt his father would approve of them going to a good home and John saw the team as one such good home.
Knowing how useful knives are to the team, in first aid kits and on climbing harnesses for technical rope rescue for example, Mark warmly accepted the gift on behalf of the team and arranged for an auction to be held on one of the team’s regular Wednesday night training sessions. Interest in the collection was intense and the auction raised a fantastic £110 towards team funds on the evening of Wednesday 19 November, while at the same time providing team members with genuinely useful knives.
By way of a thank you, and to show John something of the unit his kindness was helping to support in memory of his father, Mark and team members Ged Clarke and Chris Greenhalgh met John at Bolton Fire Station where two of the
team’s four Landrover ambulances are garaged. The group travelled to the team’s Ladybridge Hall base where the team’s headquarters, equipment and facilities were shown to John who, as a former police officer, said he was most impressed by the team’s capability and obvious professionalism.
So, John, please accept our condolences for your recent loss, and our heartfelt thanks for thinking of the team at this time and supporting our work in this unusual but extremely helpful way! Your father’s knives, and the money raised, are a most welcome gift.
