Malcolm Castle: Fire Fighting in Shropshire

Photograph © Malcolm Castle

This month, we were entertained by fire fighter and author, Malcolm Castle, who talked mainly about the humorous side of fire fighting. He joined the Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service when he was 18 years of age in 1980 and served for 32 years on Red Watch, based at Shrewsbury Fire Station. 

Malcolm told us that when a call is received, the crew can get dressed and ready to travel within 35 seconds in the daytime and within 53 seconds at night. New recruits are given the title the jockey, and to keep the rest of the team entertained (in quiet moments, of course) they're sent by senior members on foolish errands, which are said to be character building!

Like many others employed in the emergency services, he has a great sense of humour is able to see a funny side to the job, which might help him come to terms with the more harrowing situations he has had to deal with. He talked amusingly about some of the calls (or shouts) they received, such as being sent to rescue animals in odd situations. One case was of a cat that was supposedly stuck in a chimney but after some time was found to be shut in a log box by the fireside. 

Another incident involving a horse trapped in a slurry pit was described in such a way as make us all laugh due to the sticky situation they found themselves in, but also feel sorry for both the horse and the rescuers.  Of course, there were also many serious shouts such as rescuing people trapped in road accidents, as well as fires, which he described as both exciting and challenging.

Malcolm has written several books about his long and varied career, including All Fired Up and Great Bales of Fire, showing the lighter side of a fire fighter's job. He also likes to act and produce plays which was evident in his delivery and description of his past work, and has also helped the BBC as a fire adviser for various programmes, one of which is Casualty.

Whilst Malcolm had entertained and amused us for nearly an hour, we were conscious of the skill and bravery exhibited by fire fighters who are willing to risk their lives to save others. This was recognised in the vote of thanks to Malcolm for his talk.

Cameron Addicott: My life as an Undercover Agent

Photograph © Cameron Addicott

We restarted our meetings after the summer break with 75 members present. We all had a lot to talk about and there was much catching up to do over lunch. 

Our speaker this month was Cameron Addicott, who spoke to us about his exciting and sometimes dangerous life as an undercover agent. He told us tales of his former career as a criminal investigator with HM Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency and described how devious criminals have become when motivated by greed. Unsurprisingly, crime has now spread out to smaller towns and villages in order for them to target unsuspecting victims.

The main focus of this talk was on drug dealers and how in these circumstances, the investigators' work is often like cat and mouse: waiting, watching and then pouncing at just the right moment to catch their prey. The dealers have become very clever in trying to disguise the drugs, using different ways of transporting them from where they're grown and doing their best to try outwit the authorities.

We learnt that undercover agents, like Cameron, spend months of intelligence planning using three main methods: interception of all communications including texts, emails and phone calls; surveillance watching suspects from unmarked vehicles and neighbouring buildings and infiltration using informants with access to information. At times we felt we were in the middle of a TV thriller, as much of what he said reminded us of programmes we have watched. It's certainly reassuring to know that there are people like him who are endeavouring to keep the public safe.

Cameron left SOCA in 2008 and has written several books on the subject of crime. He is currently working on two others and also acts as a consultant or on-screen expert on various crime-based TV programmes.

All of our members were intrigued by his stories and an interesting time was had by all.