Firefighting farmer retires after 43 years of dedication

But at midnight tonight (Friday), the grandfather-of-two will be hanging up his hose and handing over his uniform after 43 years’ service as a retained officer at the town’s fire station.

Mr Duckett, who turned 62 yesterday (Thursday), has led a life since childhood that has been shaped around the requirements of responding to emergency incidents in and around the town, as both his father and uncle - former officer in charge, John Grant - were also retained firefighters at Southam.

He said: “When I was little, I remember the siren used to go off for a call-out when we were on the farm. I used to sit on the front of the tractor with my dad, so I would have to go with them and then somebody would have to take me home from the station.

“As soon as I turned 18, I showed up at the station and that was it.”

During his time as a firefighter, Mr Duckett set up the town’s ‘first repsonders’ group and Southam’s first Young Firefighters branch.

The father-of-three, who was last year made MBE for his services to the Warwickshire community, is one of a select few who are on-call 24 hours a day. He said: “That means we cannot have a drink or go too far out of the area.

“Everything about my farm life and personal life is set up so that if I need to go straight away, I can just leave. Not doing it will be quite a change.

“I have given a fair amount of time to it so it’s time to lead a bit more of a normal life. I really enjoy it though and shall probably miss it.”