28/10/2011 - Time capsule hails new era at station

Local school children, station crew, Councilors and Thomas Vale Construction staff recently buried photographs, school work and an edition of The Sentinel to mark the completion of  the new £3.3 million Kidsgrove Community Fire Station.

Midlands based contractor Thomas Vale Construction began work on the new station in November 2010. Throughout the duration of the project firefighters have operated out of a temporary base.

Youngsters from St Saviour CE Primary School in Talke worked with firefighters to put together a time capsule for future generations to discover.

They were given a tour of the new station which has a state-of-the-art gym, cafe area, community rooms and triple the number of computers than the previous station.

Station manager Glynn Luznyj said: "These new facilities will give us a minimum of 60 years service and we are looking forward to welcoming the local community into the building. It will make a massive difference. We have training facilities, it's energy efficient and there is even scope to open the gym to the public in the future. It is a fantastic opportunity for Staffordshire's Fire and Rescue Service to enhance their facilities and put on additional services that benefit the people of Kidsgrove."

Crew manager Neil Gordon said: "The last station was out of date; it didn't even have a fire alarm. We have been going out into the community in recent years fitting smoke alarms and now they can come here and see what we do."

Staff also remembered their colleague, firefighter Elwyn Evans, who had been based at the old station for 25 years before he died of cancer in 2003, by planting a rhododendron bush in the garden of the new facility.

Abbie Smith, aged nine, a pupil from St Saviour's Primary School, said: "It's really posh now. I would like to come back. It's going to be a really good fire station."

Class teacher Samantha Summerfields said: "The new station is very impressive and I think it's a fantastic investment in the area. The school has already been offered use of the space here. We could definitely use it as training space and to hold parent groups. The children have been quite in awe of it all and have really enjoyed using the hoses and trying on the breathing apparatus and uniforms. It was a fun way to get across a serious message."

Kidsgrove is the ninth of 10 new community fire stations being built in Staffordshire as part of a £46 million project.