Ellon open day highlights call for North East Scottish Fire Heritage Trust support
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A busy Saturday afternoon saw the public come out in force to support the joint open days held at Ellon Fire Station and Ellon Police Station.
The popular annual event saw visitors welcomed to both sites for a range of activities and stalls following a parade through the town lead by Ellon Pipe Band.
Amongst those attending at the fire station were members of the North East Scottish Fire Heritage Trust who called on the public and ex-service members to offer their support for the group.
A spokesperson explained: "North East Scotland Fire Heritage Trust are the trustees of several vehicles consisting of a 1915 Dennis N-Type fire engine, a 1950s F8 fire engine, a 1950s turntable ladder, a 1980s Scania beavertail lorry (formerly a Simon snorkel) and an LDV convoy formerly stationed at Shapinsay.
"We also have records dating back to early 1900s along with uniforms and equipment used and worn by our early colleagues.
"But we are just the trustees not the owners and all seven of us are over 60 years of age with two in their 80s.
"As you can see we are all getting on and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep up with everything.
"We desperately need more members to join us to keep the Trust going and attending all of our engagements.
"Many of you think that we “only polish brass “ but this couldn’t be further from the truth, we do maintenance , servicing , repairs, organising and many other activities,
"For future events, open days that we are asked to attend we may request that a driver be available to assist as we now only have 2 LGV drivers in the trust, so instead of us just turning up as an entity for the day and leaving at the end of the event we hope to involve stations to assist us.
"We are starting a program of familiarisation of the vehicles with stations and letting you drive whichever vehicle attends your event as well as us the trustees."
The Heritage trust is based at the rear of North Anderson Drive fire station in the old paint shop and members attend on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 9am and 4pm."
If you are interested in joining us or helping out, call in or contact us via our Facebook page (NESFHT) North East Scotland Fire Heritage Trust."
