Local Authority Heroes

Having worked at Croydon Council for over 14 years now I 've known dozens of colleagues - if not hundreds - who all count as heroes in one way or another. From the people who go out of their way to help keep the streets safe and clean to the officers who spend years of their lives caring for local residents (the young, the elderly or the infirm) with no recognition except for that of their clients and their colleagues.

The simplest action can have a huge positive impact, but all too often it's just in the line of duty. As a result these staff just don't think to get their story told, except in rare incidences like this one below. And this only emerged because I was lucky enough to pick up on what had happened at the time and caught the ear of a sympathetic Croydon journalist who recognised the news value: http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/8725678.Quick_thinking_street_supervisor_saves_shops/
I could probably swamp this page with individual tales from Croydon - all along these lines. Officers who have provided emergency housing for victims of fires in the middle of the night; security staff who have put themselves in harms way to protect the public; gritting crews who have walked dozens of miles to and from work to make sure the roads were kept clear of snow; building control officers who have risked their safety checking on dangerous structures after explosions - the list goes on...right down to the street sweeper who I saw the other night looking after an old ladies dog while she popped into the chemist to pick up her prescription.

But for every one of these 'compelling' stories there are many more 'mundane' ones that will never get told - but are none the less important for all of that.

These are the stories of the officers who genuinely believe in high quality public service and are happy to work away in relative anonymity because they feel that what they do is an important cog in the machine that keeps their community working.

My own grandfather (Oscar Clennell for the record) spent his entire life working in local government finance, and his authority (Basingstoke) so valued his input to the regeneration of the town after the war that they granted him the freedom of the city on his retirement.

This sort of recognition is rare these days (when he passed away recently at the grand old age of 98 I learnt that he was the last surviving freeman), so I for one genuinely and personally welcome this campaign and I hope that it reaches out to the wider population so that they can hear a few positive stories about the people who work for their communities twenty fours hours a day, 365 days a year.

If I have to vote for one person to single out in Croydon then it's a tough decision, but for me it is a lady by the name of Fiona - however I will save her accomplishments for a later post!