MIDDLETON BRIGADE

The Middleton Country Fair 2008


The Brigade has been a part of the Middleton Country Fair for many years - even when it was known as 'the Expo'. It gives us a chance open up the Station to visitors so they can gain a better understanding of what we try to do, promote fire safety through displays and brochures, let young (and hopefully future firefighters) sit in the trucks (subject to TFS SOP amendment 3, June 1st. 2004 of course) and just have a chat to people.

It is also allows trained volunteer firefighters become gourmet chefs for a day! Well gourmet may be a bit of an exaggeration but chefs we become. The Station kitchen/meeting room is transformed into industrial mayhem for 12 hours. There is one underlying reason for this strange behaviour - it is our sole opportunity to raise funds for items that we feel we need and that the TFS can not provide for individual Brigades from their budget.

Last year we raised enough money to buy UHF radios for use on the fireground (which were used by the Fair's organising committee this year), added shelving in order to be able to find the copious quantity of training manuals with ease, build storage shelves for spare hoses and get the website up-and-running. The on-going 'wish list' for this year contained such items as a log roller to help with 'blacking out' after a fire, an outside tap to clean hoses after a fire and spectacles for each truck (some of us need glasses to read maps)!

So - the planning for the big day began ten days earlier! We aim to be good in emergencies so this would be plenty of time. With the sales figures from last year available a group of the Brigade was set the task of making sure we had all the stuff we'd need. The Brigade is, personally, into health food but we'll sell other stuff so snags, burgers, savs and cans of fizzy stuff were the order of the day. Our chips are now legendary within the Fair and, having sold out last year, we upped the volume by 25%.


Peeling 80 kgs. of spuds isn't a pleasant task; 10kgs of onions isn't much better! But what a godsend this year with two of our members having a real, certified, totally hygienic kitchen on hand! And lateral thinking! Has anyone 'Kartchered' the spuds before?
Chip said quantity of spuds in 40 minutes? What took us hours last year was completed in minutes (well about 45) with many of those attending just watching in awe as all was prepared in the proverbial blink of an eye. Then to the Station to ready the kitchen. An hour of setting things up and off home for an early start on the BIG day…..

All was set. Before things began our Chief called us in to the Station. Oh please - not a pep talk about the day ahead. No - eventually the TFS had forwarded Kevin Lawler's ten year badge! Ten years and as much experience in the TFS as anyone, the firefighter we'd like alongside us and you would like in a fire. Congratulations all round to Kev - now fire up the barbie!
By 10.30 we'd sold two sausages and a single hamburger and we were looking at a load of food stored on the correct shelves and at the correct temperature in the fridges. There were more of 'us' than 'them' in the Station. By 11.00 it was chaos (especially as some of 'us' had gone walkabout around the Fair)! Jamie Oliver would have been proud of the way we coped. By 2 in the arvo. we all wished we were out fighting a fire (only joking here). Never again will I ask why my meal is taking so long when out at a restaurant.

From the Brigade's point of view it was really nice to hear from 'locals' of our recent initiatives. The email newsletter seems to be appreciated; the Westwinds Newsletter articles likewise. There was a big crowd this year and we must congratulate the Fair Committee for their planning and promotion. Not only did it bring together the Middleton community it attracted huge numbers from outside.


For those involved from the Brigade itself the day, as always, served another purpose. I personally hate the word 'bonding' but the Fair kitchen proved to be an ideal way of working together under a new pressure. Regardless of how many hours we train together being put in a situation like that was akin to being on the fireground! The personal wit and repartee of a few hours at the Fair was worth its weight in gold. Oh - we are now looking to bigger and better uses of our culinary skills. Middleton doesn't have a gourmet restaurant as yet?

At the end of the day Kev was overjoyed to take receipt of the new Middleton fire truck. It actually goes faster than our 3-1 up hills. A very welcome addition to our fleet.

The day would not have been as successful without the support of the following, to whom the Brigade and the community owes a great deal:

Middleton General Store
Trevor McCauley
Oyster Cove Fruit and Vegetables
Peppermint Bay
Snug Butchers


And the volunteer firefighters and the auxiliary of the Middleton Fire Brigade.