Fire Fighters Charity turns 80

The Fire Fighters Charity marks its 80^th anniversary, so lets look back on some of its life-changing services and how you can support its vital work – ensuring it’s there, making a difference, for the next 80 years.

From supporting the bereaved families of World War II firefighters, to providing online and face-to-face support to thousands of members of the UK’s fire family today, The Fire Fighters Charity has come a long way since 1943.

Now, as it turns 80 this year, it’s asking you to join in its anniversary celebrations to ensure it can be there for the next 80 years and beyond.

The charity will be sharing an inside look at some of its life-changing services and how it may be able to support you, as well as opportunities for you to get involved in fundraising activities – whether it’s individually or as a business – to directly support the UK’s fire services community.

Here’s a look back at how the charity got to where it is today…

80 years of growth and development

Eight decades ago, the charity – or the Fire Services National Benevolent Fund as it was known then – became an essential source of support for orphans of fire service personnel killed during the war, and that dedication to families has continued to this day.

Now, not only does the charity care for the country’s fire service family, but also the spouses, partners and dependants of all personnel, both serving and retired.

It’s developed its services hugely over the years too, from its early days as a grant provider following the Blitz, to being both a preventative and reactive provider of online, community-based and residential health and wellbeing support today.

Throughout the decades, the charity has worked to meet the changing needs of the fire services community, adapting its services and support to meet whatever challenges its beneficiaries are facing, including both the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis in recent times.

A wealth of support available

The charity has been delivering much needed virtual and online support to members of our fire family across the UK ever since the first national lockdown in April 2020. So much so, it marked a major milestone by logging on to deliver its 10,000th virtual consultation in autumn 2022.

Now, it provides a hybrid approach to support, ensuring everyone is offered help to meet their personal need – whether online or face-to-face.

“Reaching 10,000 online consultations was a significant milestone and showed we are ‘fleet of foot’, responsive and adaptable to meet the needs of our beneficiaries – all part of our transformative work as we move into the future. Thank you to everyone who helped us achieve this.”

Sharon Bailey, Director of Beneficiary Services, The Fire Fighters Charity.

Alongside this digital offering, the charity has continued to develop its residential programmes – including the introduction of a Covid Recovery Programme, which supports beneficiaries living with long-term symptoms of Covid, as well as a Reset Programme, which helps those attending develop and improve their resilience and overall mental fitness.

The charity is always working to actively support and empower the UK’s fire family to live healthier and happier. These are just a few of the ways it’s doing so today:

• Face-to-face rehabilitation and nursing support
• Digital physiotherapy
• Digital counselling
• Digital and face-to-face Covid Recovery Programmes
• Hope Programmes, offering online mental wellbeing support
• Reset Programme, offering face-to-face mental wellbeing support
• Welfare and financial support
• Family support, including dedicated programmes at centres
• Living Well Groups and a telephone befriending service for the retired community
• Rest and recharge breaks at centres
• My Fire Fighters Charity (MyFFC) app and online Wellbeing Hub.

Looking ahead to the next 80 years

None of the charity’s work would be possible without the regular donations of its supporters. They are, quite simply, its lifeblood.

“On behalf of everyone at The Fire Fighters Charity, I want to send my heartfelt thanks to all those who have supported us over the last 80 years.

“We’ve never offered as much varied support as we do today, but we can’t continue to develop and expand our services without your ongoing donations. Every pound you raise or donate goes directly towards supporting one of your fire service colleagues across the UK – it really is making a life-changing difference.

“We’re incredibly excited to mark this special 80^th year with you by our side, so please do get involved and join us in celebrating this fantastic milestone.”

Dr Jill Tolfrey, Chief Executive, The Fire Fighters Charity.

To read similar articles, see our People and Skills channel.