A FAMILY of firefighters who have helped protect Didcot for 73 years have been honoured.

Retained fireman Nigel Didcock, 49, has been presented with an award for 30 years of continuous service at Didcot fire station after joining in September 1978.

His father, Lawrence Didcock, 82, served for 35 years from 1948, while his uncle, Francis, originally joined the service in 1936.

The family were given a certificate honouring their combined service last Thursday.

Nigel, who was promoted to Lead Firefighter in 1996 and Sub Officer in 2001, said: “I was brought up with it from a lad. It was just a sort of follow-on really.

“I did start to think about the Armed Forces, but that never materialised, and as soon as I was 18 I was still living at home and joined as a retained fireman to give it a chance.”

At the age of 25 he became a full-time fire officer with the Atomic Energy Authority, and now works at RAF High Wycombe.

At first, he served under his father Lawrence, who now lives next door to him in Park Road, Didcot, and first joined the service on leaving the RAF after the Second World War.

He said: “It makes me proud.

“I like the fire service and I did pressure Nigel to join – it was helping people, and one big happy family in those days.

“We used to have dances, and go to different stations for the day. That doesn’t happen now. I still miss it. My son lives next door to me, and I hear him go out every time in the middle of the night.

“I used to get up as well and look around to see if I could see any flames, and go and take photographs if it was a big one.”

Lawrence attended the Milton rail crash in November 1955, in which 11 people died and 157 were injured, a blaze in August 1964 when a tanker carrying 288,000 gallons of petrol collided with a steam engine, and a Didcot train crash in 1967 in which one woman, a fire officer’s wife, died.

Nigel attended the 1980 Crabtree & Evelyn fire at Milton Park, a blaze at the 14th century Philberds Manor House, East Hanney, in 2006, and joined rescuers during the July 2007 floods.

John Parry, Oxfordshire’s chief fire officer, said: “The county’s fire and rescue service has a proud tradition of family members following in the footsteps of relatives who have served their communities, but there can’t be many families who can lay claim to providing 73 years of uninterrupted fire cover.”

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk