On Saturday 28 October 2017 Doreen Fire Brigade held an awards night and also celebrated its 75th year in operation.
Not big on ceremony, we opted for a low key affair at Bridges Restaurant in Hurstbridge, a location well known to the local brigades.
We don’t have a dinner every year so awards tend to accumulate. On this occasion we had a number of presentations to be made.
We were extremely privileged to have Assistant Chief Officer Gavin Thompson, Group Officer Lex de Man and Operations Officer Paul Elso attend.
GO de Man spoke of Doreen’s history while ACO Thompson spoke about our future and on occasion referred to the Tigers winning the Grand Final recently.
A certificate of appreciation for Doreen’s 75 years of service was presented to the brigade by ACO Thompson and this was accepted by Captain Chris Maries.
During the evening OO Paul Elso presented the following people with awards reflecting their years of service.
5-year service certificates
Jess Rees
Leigh McDonald
Richard Wilson
Victoria Roberts
Rebecca Roberts
Peter Mc William
Fiona Bradley
Damian Ball *
Jo Cox*
Michael Harding*
Malcolm Noyle *
Grant Sly*
Ceejay Porter*
10-year service medal
Lucy Gallagher
Mark Jackson
Taylor Wilson*
Matt Parslow*
15-year service medal
Jenny Maries
Chris Maries
Andrew Connell
Mark Robert
Jan Franklin*
Pam Kalms*
20-year service medal
Robert Bury
25-year service medal
Leigh Neale
Paul Silver
30-year service medal
Carl White
( * Unable to attend )
Life Membership
The well guarded secret presentation of the night was Paul Silver being made a life member for his outstanding contribution to the Doreen Fire Brigade over many years of service.
In 2017 Paul joined Doreen's two other life members Sandy Brock 2003 (deceased) and Ken Bassett 2014.
Thank you to all those who attended. It was by all accounts a great night.
A special thanks to the crew from Yarrambat Fire Brigade who stepped up to man our station for a few hours so that we could attend the dinner.