A young man who overcame adversity to find success on a fire service youth scheme has been recognised for his achievement.
Ashley Meaklim withdrew from his first attempt at a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) Prince’s Trust course due to extreme nerves, anxiety and depression.
But the 23-year-old, from Basingstoke, was so determined to succeed that he rejoined in January and has gone from strength to strength since completing the course.
Now Ashley has been recognised for his achievement – making it on to the shortlist in the National Fire Chiefs Council’s Celebrating Prevention Awards.
The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of prevention activity in fire and rescue services across the country.
Ashley said:
“I’ve noticed how far my confidence has grown with going out, talking to people, and socialising. This confidence has helped me to land my dream job.
“I have a real interest in planes, and I now work at Heathrow airport as a ramp agent loading and unloading aircraft.
“I’m enjoying it so far and the work is really interesting.
“When I found out about the awards, I was speechless. This means everything to me and is the biggest achievement of my life so far.”
HIWFRS safeguarding lead officer, Laura Cane-Andrews, has also been nominated and has been shortlisted in the Safeguarding Star Award category.
Laura, who has worked for the service for more than a decade, said:
“It’s so lovely to even be nominated by my colleagues for this award, let alone to be shortlisted as a finalist.
“I just feel like I’m doing my job so to have people recognise it as more than that is really rewarding. So many safeguarding developments and workstreams have been achieved in HIWFRS in the last year, alongside our continual support and response to complex safeguarding matters, so it’s great for this to be recognised.”
The service’s children and young people’s team has also been shortlisted for the Children and Young People Award.
CYP delivery manager, Karen Farr, said:
“We are incredibly honoured and delighted to have been nominated for this award.
“The CYP team, alongside our incredible volunteers, work so hard to support vulnerable children and young people in our communities to stay safe and to achieve their full potential.
“It’s lovely for all their hard work, dedication and commitment to be recognised in this way. I’m very proud of all that we achieve together, through our Prince’s Trust, Fire Cadets, Schools education and Firewise programmes”.
The winners will be announced tonight (Thursday 10 November) at a special awards dinner held at the annual NFCC Prevention and Protection Conference.