When recognising some means remembering everyone

I may have said this before, but I'm a huge fan of the fire and rescue service. I've never been an operational firefighter, although I did go on a one day 'taster' with London Fire Brigade and realised I wasn't quite as fit as I thought I was. But, do you know what, you don't have to have been at the front end of fire to get it.

I sat through the Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards at 1 Great George Street earlier today. With around 200 people in the room, many in uniform, FIRE magazine recognised the excellent work of the fire and rescue service and gave out awards in a range of categories.

I sat next to one of my fellow judges, Jacquie White from NHS England. She's a great cheerleader for the fire and rescue service. She knows the service from the work that we've been calling fire as a health asset. Her perspective of the service is framed around that work. Having read all the nominations, she now knows the breadth of work going on in the service and the opportunities there are to enhance her own work.

And as I tweeted my way through the announcement of the winners, aided by a copy of the compere's speech, I realised that while we are right to recognise excellence in the form of awards and share with our peers at events like this, there is so much more we don't hear about.

We can't recognise everyone, but we can remember that every day, thousands of staff in fire and rescue services across the UK are working hard to make communities safe. They may wear a uniform, they may not, it really doesn't matter: it's the totality of the effort and the commitment to excellent public service that counts.

We do need to hear from more services though and get a wider spread from across the UK. It would be fantastic if every fire and rescue service put in nominations in at least one category. I cannot believe that there isn't one influential woman in every service; that there isn't one example of great partnership working or a team working on innovative stuff that should be recognised.

So, my advice is don't hide, get out there and shout about it. Be proud of what you're doing, tell us and you never know you could be in Westminster with us next year.

2 December 2016