Cambridgeshire Fire Fighters festive video prompts surprise gift from family business
Fire Service staff will be bringing a smile to the faces of hundreds of children across Cambridgeshire this Christmas thanks to a generous surprise donation from a Christmas spirited family business.
Touched by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Christmas video, Terberg DTS contacted the Service and offered to donate £2,000 so the Service could buy toys to deliver to local children who, for various reasons, may not be as fortunate as others this Christmas.
The Service’s Christmas video, inspired by the John Lewis Christmas advert featuring Elton John, was published at the end of November and has the strapline, ‘Christmas - inspiring future lifesavers as well as popstars’.
The video shows young girls and boys opening fire service related presents and then cuts to real firefighters using the same equipment or doing the same action, inferring the children achieved their dream. The video has been shared around 7,000 times on Facebook and Twitter and has been viewed by 370,000 people.
Thanks to the kind donation from Terberg DTS, presents for children will be delivered to women’s refuges in Huntingdon, Fenland and Cambridge, a domestic violence advisory service in Peterborough and a food bank in Ely. The collections already organised by crews and staff for hospitals and an organisation supporting homeless families in Huntingdon have also been topped up.
Alisdair Couper, managing director at Terberg DTS which specialises in building terminal, yard tractors and other related vehicles, explained: “We saw the video on twitter and were so touched by it we wanted to offer a donation. It’s fantastic to be able to support families who are in difficult circumstances at Christmas and we’re delighted Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service was able to bring our donation to life, buying presents and finding very worthy causes to deliver them to.”
Hayley Douglas, head of media and communication at Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, who had the initial idea for the video, said: “We’ve been bowled over by the reaction to the video and this has been the icing on the cake. We’re extremely grateful to Terberg DTS for their generosity.
“We decided to buy fire service related toys and books as much as we could to tie in with the video. Who knows, the final outcome of all this might be that we inspire a few future firefighters. It’s been a manic few days raiding shelves in local toy shops and special mention has to go to Smyths Toys in Peterborough who not only gave us a discount but donated a massive fire engine toy for the communal area of one of the refuges.”
Hayley added: “The video cost nothing to make and was filmed on an iPhone. It had no real purpose other than we thought it would be an interesting twist on the John Lewis advert so for all this to happen as a result is just unbelievable and has certainly made our Christmas!”
Those who received their sacks of presents on Friday (December 21) were: Refuge Huntingdon, Refuge Fenland, Women’s Aid Cambridge, Ely food bank and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Domestic Violence Advisory Service.