Retired Essex firefighters campaign for national memorial

A group of retired firefighters from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service are fundraising to create a national memorial to fallen firefighters.

The campaign is being led by Ronnie Patterson and Mark Moughton, both retired Essex firefighters and members of the England 4 Essex Chapter of the Red Knights International Firefighters Motorcycle Club.

The motorcycle club is aiming to raise as much as they can in 80 days to create a memorial garden where families, friends and colleagues can pay their respects and remember firefighters who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while on duty. 

The memorial is set to be unveiled on Saturday 4 May - International Firefighters Memorial Day.

Based at The Living Memorial in Rettendon, the memorial will be home to a statue of a firefighter and a garden decorated with flowers and plants. The garden will be surrounded by a brick wall with each brick set to have a plaque dedicated to a firefighter.

Next to the statue will be a retired fire engine - a Dennis Rapier - donated by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.

There is also a building to showcase firefighter memorabilia. The building has been kindly provided and assembled by the owners of the site at The Living Memorial and has already been painted red by the Red Knights Motorcycle Club. All memorabilia will be on loan from the Essex Fire Museum.

Last year, the Red Knights International Firefighters Motorcycle Club England 4 Essex raised nearly £3,000 for a bereavement suite at Colchester General Hospital for families whose babies are stillborn. 

This fundraising was the driving force behind fundraising for a national firefighter memorial.

Ronnie Patterson, President of the Red Knights International Firefighters Motorcycle Club England 4 Essex chapter said: “We are hoping to memorialise and remember firefighters that are no longer here. Those that have died doing their job in the call of duty, but also those that have died through illness and through suicide. 

“I’m quite passionate about this. My father, who was a firefighter in Scotland had cancer before he retired, and eventually what he what he was diagnosed with eventually turned into another cancer which eventually killed him.

“I myself was told a year after retiring that I had cancer as well. I'm one of the lucky ones. I've survived. This is another reason why we're doing what we're doing we’ve worked with many members through the decades that are no longer here, through suicide, through illness, through dying in the call of duty.”

Mark Moughton, Quartermaster of the Red Knights International Firefighters Motorcycle Club England 4 Essex chapter said: “What we’d like from the public now is support through our Go Fund Me page. We’d also like members of the public who perhaps had family in the fire service and would like a plaque on our wall to get in touch. 

“We’d like to thank everyone for their generosity in getting us to where we are now. Particular thanks to Fran and Peter at The Living memorial for letting our memorial have a home here in Rettendon and for their generous donation of a building to house our firefighter memorabilia. Thank you to the Fire Brigade Union for their generous donation that got the ball rolling. Thanks to Poplar Nursery in Colchester who are supplying all of the plants we require and to my friend Stuart Smith for donating bricks for our memorial wall. Finally, we’d like to thank Essex County Fire and Rescue Service for donating a fire engine and firefighter memorabilia from the Essex Fire Museum. 

You can find out more about the memorial and how to support it here.