Ambulance

Focus on the Ambulance Staff Charity
Ambulance personnel pay tribute
to the fallen at National Memorial Service
Senior representatives of ambulance services from around the country attended a moving national
Ambulance Remembrance Service to honour colleagues who have died while on duty and in service.
The biennial service, which took place
at the National Memorial Arboretum
in Alrewas, Staffordshire, is an Act of
Remembrance to honour the memory
of all those who served and died while
working for the ambulance services of
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,
the Republic of Ireland, Guernsey and
Jersey.
The event, organised by TASC, The
Ambulance Staff Charity, was attended
by around 160 people including
representatives of ambulance services,
retirement associations, the Independent
Ambulance Association, charities, Unison,
and relatives of ambulance personnel on
the Roll of Honour.
The event began with a private service
at the Arboretum’s Chapel of Peace by
Rev Paul Fermor, Deputy Senior Chaplain
at South East Coast Ambulance Service
NHS Foundation Trust. The service also
included readings from the Bible by Violet
Hornby, an ambulance technician with
Scottish Ambulance Service, and Marie
Fisher, operational services manager at
North West Ambulance Service, together
with music from TASC trustee Cliff Randall,
accompanied by his brother Paul.
A procession led by a piper then moved
from the chapel to the Ambulance Services
Garden of Remembrance within the
Arboretum grounds where the Roll of
Honour, currently consisting of 93 names
of ambulance personnel, was read out by
John Eames and Steven Rust from West
Midlands Ambulance Service.
Line-up at the Memorial Stone
The Garden of Remembrance service,
which took place alongside the Ambulance
Memorial, also included a reading from
retired West Midlands Ambulance Service
paramedic Carl Ledbury, who delivered
Laurence Binyon’s famous World War One
poem, For The Fallen.
This was followed by the laying of 14
wreaths and floral tributes on behalf of
ambulance trusts, retirement associations,
relatives of those on the Roll of Honour,
Unison and TASC. The Last Post was then
played by Marcus Main from the Welsh
Ambulance Service before the Rev Fermor
concluded the memorial service with a final
prayer which was followed by a two-minute
silence.
Rev Fermor, who is also chaplain for Kent,
said following the service: “It was a great
honour to conduct the service and we
were really pleased with the way it went.
A number of people came up to me
afterwards to say how much it had helped
them.”
The chaplain’s brother, Simon Fermor, had
previously helped organise the memorial
service in his role as Secretary of the
Ambulance Service Benevolent Fund, which
has now become TASC.
Carl Ledbury retired from West Midlands
Ambulance Service in 2012 after a 36-year
career. He said: “It was an excellent event,
remembering ambulance personnel who
have fallen in the line of duty and in service,
and I was honoured to be a speaker. It is a
special tribute for the family of loved ones
who have died whilst in service.”
Steve Rust, who is based at Stoke-on-Trent,
said: “It was an honour to be asked to help
read out the Roll of Honour. But it was also
an emotional thing to do because there
were names on the list who I was both
colleagues and friends with, so that was
hard.”
Marie Fisher, who helped read out the Roll
of Honour two years ago, said: “It was a
very moving ceremony and it was a huge
honour to be involved in this way.” And
Violet Hornby, who joined Marie in reading
the Roll of Honour in 2014, agreed it had
been a “real honour” to again be involved.
The National Memorial Arboretum
comprises around 30,000 trees on a
150-acre site dotted with more than 300
memorials, including the Armed Forces
Memorial and Basra Wall, dedicated to
those who have served and continue to
serve their country.
Rev Paul Fermor begins service in the garden
Winter 2016 | Ambulancetoday
The Ambulance Staff Charity
supports members of the UK
ambulance community in times
of severe difficulty or urgent need
following injury, illness, stress or
bereavement.
For more information please visit:
www.theasc.org.uk
or call 0800 1032 999.
Winter 2014 | Ambulancetoday3 57