Thank You

Since taking over as Firemaster of Strathclyde Fire Brigade (now Strathclyde Fire and Rescue), Chief Officer Brian Sweeney has been extremely supportive of the aims and objectives of Strathclyde Fire Brigade Preservation Group. In March 2006 Chief Officer Sweeney agreed to become Honorary President of the Preservation Group.
The Preservation Group works closely with the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue and many of the events we attend are referrals from their Community Safety department.
All of our appliances are former Strathclyde Fire Brigade vehicles and some even served in the pre regionalization Brigades.
Our thanks go to Chief Officer Sweeney for his continuing support and for allowing the Preservation Group the facility of storing our appliances within certain stations.

 

 

Our connection with the Transport Company Kerr & Smith is that one partner of the firm; Jim Smith is a retained Station Officer with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue and a preserved fire appliance enthusiast and collector. Mr Smith has on numerous occasions assisted our group with various preservation projects and helped with the transportation of appliances to various events. Kerr and Smith also agreed to sponsor our trip to Schonstadt in 2006 by providing us with an Iveco Stralis unit and low loader, a Minibus and also covered our fuel costs.

 

In 1996 Glasgow City Council came to our rescue when the Preservation Group took delivery of a Green Goddess and had no where to store it.
Mr Ross Blyth, Manager of the then Buildings & Works depot at Hawthorn Street, Glasgow took pity on us and allowed us the space not only to work on the Goddess but also to begin the restoration of the Dennis F8. We owe much to Ross and to Gordon Charnley whose knowledge of all things mechanical have helped enormously.
The Preservation Group works closely with Glasgow City Council and attends many of their events throughout the City.

 

 

When we took delivery the Dennis F8, Glasgow City Council agreed to store it alongside the Goddess. Not long after the F8 had arrived at Hawthorn Street, it was visited by Colin Hutton of the Colin Hutton Group. The sad little appliance had impressed him and he left word for us to make contact.
Bill Gordon and I went to see Colin only to find out he had been a fireman and that the F8 had brought memories of his time at the South Fire Station in Glasgow. Colin told us that he would like to assist our group by giving the F8 a much needed paint job and what a job they made of it as can be seen by the photographs.
Colin and his staff have helped with many of our projects and our thanks also go to them

Ronnie Rusack is responsible for starting my involvement in the preservation of old appliances.
I phoned Ronnie one morning after reading about an appliance which was coming up for auction. My timing however could not have been worse as the Bridge Inn at Ratho (Ronnie was mine host there for over 30 years) was under attack from man made and natural disasters. Once normality had returned Ronnie returned the call and said OK. I went to the auction on his behalf and managed to purchase a rather sad looking Commer Water Tender. On closer examination the appliance was found to be in very good condition and so fire engine restoration and a new chapter in my life had begun. That was in 1992 and Ronnie, now retired, devotes a great deal of time to the preservation and operation of his own appliances.

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For More info Contact : Bob Wright