Churchill Fellowship citizen meets the Queen

Retired firefighter Alvin Crisp, from Huddersfield, was recently a guest at a Royal reception, held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Crisp, aged 63, was invited to the reception at Buckingham Palace, which was hosted by the Queen, who is patron of the Trust.

Since its inception in 1965, the Trust has awarded more than 5,000 Churchill Fellowships. These lucky people were selected from over 100,000 applicants who had projects including overseas study of personal and topical interest. The knowledge gained by these people is brought back to benefit their local community, profession and often, the country. The Churchill Fellowship award aims to help people to achieve positive change.

Crisp, who retired in 2004, travelled to the US in 1989 to research how fire personnel there provided care and treatment of burns victims. The Fellowship project led to Crisp investigating personal protective equipment (PPE) and how it could be improved to prevent fire officers getting burnt.

He commented:

“Over the years all those who have needed the assistance of the Fire and Rescue Service have benefited from these improvements. Firefighters’ personal protective clothing continues to evolve, enabling them to be better protected and more effective in their fire and rescue duties.”

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust was launched in 1965 when the famous politician died, as many people donated funds in his memory. The Trust helps British people to travel overseas to discover innovative ways to tackle the current challenges that face the UK.