On Saturday, 24 September 2022, the Friends of the London Fire Brigade Museum hosted a fire appliance spectacular at Shoreditch Fire Station as the culmination of the LFB’s involvement with the 20th Anniversary of London Design Week and The Running Towards exhibition.
We were asked by the Head of Branding & Events if we could organise a display of fire appliances and equipment to demonstrate how design had influenced firefighting over the centuries.
We were delighted to confirm our support and decided to use this opportunity to launch our new design and brand, following us being recognised as an official partner of the London Fire Brigade. There were numerous hurdles to overcome, even before we could send out invitations.
On the day, Shoreditch’s yard was filled with fire appliances dating from the 18th Century to the modern day, supported by volunteers and serving personnel dressed in the appropriate uniforms and ready to meet the public. The doors opened at midday, and, during the course of the day, hundreds of people explored the exhibition, before finding their way to the fire appliances. It gave the public a fascinating insight into the London Fire Brigade across the ages.
The event was a great success and we would like to thank everybody, particularly the Officers and personnel of Shoreditch Fire Station for hosting us, LFB’s Branding & Events team, Simon Wright and Beth Hilliard for arranging the enthusiastic and hardworking team of Fire Cadets, all the volunteers and participants.
Thanks to the Friends team, David Rogers, Kyle Annakin, Gill Pritchard, Gary Lewington, Bill Hickin, Ivan Barefield and Paul Wood.
Special thanks to Bill Scott and Dyon Wildman for helping out on the day; to Steve Dudeney for giving up his time to sign your copies of his book and kindly donating specially signed copies as our raffle prizes, all proceeds raised in this respect were donated to the FLFBM; to Paul Slade for his amazing Fire Brigade Models stall; to Rik and Emma Whines for the fantastic vintage uniforms and Lego models; to David Holt with Owen Rowlands’s picture collection; to Abdulla, Frank and the crew from The Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum with their horse drawn fire appliance; to the 240FLM crew; to Adam and Paul Stevens with the Dennis F106; to Terry and Chris Prince with the Shelvoke; Tom Armstrong with Soho’s Dennis SS; to Dave Boulter with the London’s Burning Volvo and his spectacular fire helmet display; and to Ben Collins and family with the Mark I Mercedes.
