We would like to say the Women’s Taster day at Oswestry Fire station on Saturday 26 October with a follow on the job related tests at Telford in December was a huge success. It was held to encourage women to consider careers as retained fire-fighters, and was advertised in the local press, radio and leaflet drops.
Thirteen women attended the first day, all trying on the fire kit and breathing apparatus, looking at the fire appliance and carrying out the step test with our fitness instructor. The day must have made a good impression, because half of the women started filling out the employment application form while still at the station!
Some of the comments from the day included:
“Extremely helpful and well organised event, many thanks! Look forward to hopefully joining and becoming a women firefighter”.
“It was interesting and I have learnt a lot from the taster day”.
“I have learned a lot at the taster session and am keen to make a go of it.”
The follow up session at Telford attracted 7 of the women from the first day who wanted to find out what the job related tests were like so they had an understanding of what it could be like to be a retained fire fighter on the fire ground. They all got stuck in and really enjoyed it with surprising themselves with completing a lot of the tests or knowing what they needed to do with their fitness levels to be successful.
We will be holding a Women’s taster event in the South of the County at our Craven Arms station for surrounding stations in the spring, so please look at for more details in the New Year or if you would like any information please contact Laura Kavanagh-Jones on 01743 260189.
Please visit our Facebook page for photos from the event - www.facebook.com/shropsfire.
