Francis House Children’s Hospice had their  open day on the 15^th May 2023 when the public is invited to see how the donations help to support hundreds of families from across Greater Manchester

PETER HARTLEY   23^rd MARCH 23

GREAT NEWS ABOUT OPERATION FLORIAN AND BRITISH FIREFIGHTERS – HELP FOR UKRAINE.

As you will recall, the Rotary Club of Manchester has a long-standing link with Operation Florian – the fire fighters’ charity. See: https://operationflorian.org.uk/

You will all have seen the harrowing news from Ukraine, with the terrible, heart-breaking images of the towns and cities of that wonderful country being shelled and bombed. On many of those images you will see firefighters – and you may have noticed that some wear the familiar brown and yellow personal protective equipment (uniforms) that is worn by British fire-fighters. Yes, that is British equipment. Florian have not donated any equipment to Ukraine before. The FIRE AID partners who have delivered to Ukraine are Kent FRS, EASST and Scottish Emergency Rescue Association (SERA) all FIRE AID members. As a result of the Russian attacks, The Ukraine fire and emergency services are greatly stretched and have lost equipment and personnel.

Sadly, in the type of awful warfare being used by Russia in its unjustified invasion of Ukraine the civilian emergency services are ‘legitimate’ (?) targets. It happened in the Bosnian Civil War, in Kosovo and in Syria (where Russia also played a part). If the civil elements such as hospitals, and emergency service personnel, including fire-fighters can be reduced in their effectiveness, then the morale of the population can be further undermined.

There has been a very interesting development, which involves Operation Florian and others. Coordinated by FIRE AID, NFCC and the Home Office. The partnership involves founding FIRE AID members, Operation Florian, EASST, Staffordshire Emergency Services Humanitarian Aid Association (SESHAA) Now this week 18 fire engines, 3 lorries of equipment plus 2 support vehicles from all over the UK will depart on Friday for Ukraine. Nine, assembled from GMFRS and other services across the North West – will depart from Leigh Community Fire Station at 0800 on Friday morning. Five will be driven by Operation Florian volunteers and current GMFRS fire fighters– including one driven by Steve Jordan MBE, PHF. Steve has been the Operation Florian link with the Rotary Club of Manchester since the Club started to support the charity in 2010. The appliances are packed with additional equipment donated from GMFRS, but also by Operation Florian from its store in Chorley. The appliances will rendezvous in Kent before proceeding to Dover. From there they will sail to Calais and then drive in a convoy – via a short stopover ion Germany – to Poland.

Watch for more news – and the story will be on the morning news on Friday.

Yet again, the fire sector – including our friends in Operation Florian - has responded to a need – in very short time.

Welcome to the website of the Rotary Club of Manchester

Since the formation of our club in 1911, we have been helping worthy causes and others who are less fortunate

Guided by the Rotary Maxim of "Service above Self " The club actively supports the Rotary End Polio Now  campaign and the Disaster Aid UK campaigns. We also support the Christie Hospital , Francis House Children's Hospice , The Stroke Association , Narrowgate Homeless Shelter & Pettypool Outdoor Activity Centre  -amongst others.

We welcome new members interested in having fun while "Giving Something Back " to the community. Fresh ideas and enthusiasm are the lifeblood of any organisation.

Arms of the City of Manchester