RETIREMENT
National Association
of Retired Firefighters
By
Ian Ferguson. Editor of the NARF News
The National Association of Retired Firefighters was
founded in 1968 to look after the interests of retired
Firefighters, something that it continues to do to this
very day with approximately 8000 members across
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
When you’re part of an organisation like the Fire
Service or indeed from whatever work environment
you belong to, you have the safety and security
of knowing that if something were to go wrong in
your personal or professional life, you should be
able to call on help and support from within that
organisation to help you through any problems.
However, once you retire from and leave your
employment, it can sometimes leave you feeling
alone, isolated and quite vulnerable, because it’s
sometimes difficult to know who to turn to if you’re
in need of support. This is where being a member
of NARF can help, because within the organisation
there is a lot of expert help available that can offer
support and guidance on a wide range of subjects
from pensions advice to getting help for you or a
member of your immediate family for things like
physiotherapy or just plain rest and recuperation
and you can be guided to that support by a
branch or national official depending on your type
of membership.
There is also another side to being part of a retired
members group and many might say is THE most
important aspect of being a retired member and
that is maintaining the social
aspect of being retired.
The camaraderie of being able to keep in
touch with past colleagues from the service
and also being able to be kept informed of the
developments that are taking place within the
service that we were all once a part of is very
important. It’s also important to be kept informed
of things like members who will be retiring shortly
and also those who have sadly passed on.
These are all features of being a part of a retired
members group that helps people to feel part
of the family again. Every branch holds regular
meetings, where past colleagues can have a
‘Get together’ once again and have a chat
with old comrades who still share a passion for
the service they dedicated their lives to, have
a couple of pints and put a few fires out. As the
secretary of my branch of NARF, I can say with
some confidence that it really does people good
to socialise with each other and for me to see
thirty or forty members together coming together
at meetings, seeing them laughing and sharing
memories and catching up with each other again
is very satisfying and for me is the key to what
NARF is all about. There are those of course who,
once they leave their employment, don’t wish to
communicate with anyone and if that’s how they
feel, that’s fine, but in my experience the vast
majority of retired people still want to stay in the
loop AND in the family.
If you’d like to join NARF, it’s very easy and
remember, it’s not just open to retired Firefighters,
it’s open to ALL retired Fire Service Personnel, both
uniformed and non uniformed staff from whatever
department you used to work in. I have ex Control
staff, mechanics and office support staff who
regularly attend meetings.
You can join NARF via the website at www.narfire.
org.uk or visit us on Facebook just search “National
Association of Retired Firefighters” As a member
you’ll get access to help, support and guidance
on a wide range of topics and you’ll also receive
a copy of the NARF News three times a year,
which is informative and interesting. Join now,
you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
www.narfire.org.uk
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