The Charity’s Deputy Chair, Peter Davies, recently attended a London reception to receive a £3,000 donation to fund equipment at Jubilee House that will support the work of the nursing team in making their clients’ experience of Jubilee House comfortable, accessible and enjoyable, ensuring beneficiaries can get the very most from their time at the centre.

For Peter, the event at the Embassy of Ireland in London, was the chance to meet like-minded members of the charity sector while also spreading the message of our Charity: “It was a very interesting evening and great opportunity to meet other charities and their representatives,” he says. “It’s just a pleasure being able to explain to more people what we do and to hear about the great work being done by other charities.”

Peter also made an unexpected connection, when a lady sought him out after the cheque presentations to speak to him.

“She told me she was the first female firefighter in the UK to be formally admitted to a brigade, having spent eight years serving in East Sussex during the 1970s,” he explains. “During the course of our conversation, I told her this fact made her a beneficiary of The Fire Fighters Charity and she was delighted!”

“It just goes to show how varied our beneficiaries are. I was thrilled to be able to tell someone who had no idea she could be supported by the Charity that she was eligible for our services.”

Peter Davies

In August 1976, due to drought, the East Sussex Fire Brigade appealed for extra firefighters, and 25-year-old Mary Joy Langdon responded. She left the service in 1984 and became a nun. Then in 1989 she founded the Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre, a recovery centre that uses horses and ponies as part of therapy. It was her work there that had brought her to the evening’s reception.

“It just goes to show how varied our beneficiaries are,” says Peter. “I was thrilled to be able to tell someone who had no idea she could be supported by the Charity that she was eligible for our services. She was very keen to explore how she could support The Fire Fighters Charity in the future.”

Peter was presented with the cheque by the Embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission, Gerald Angley, Hospital Saturday Fund CEO, Paul Jackson and TV personality, Alice Beer, who was the celebrity speaker and guest of the Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre, invited by Mary-Joy herself.