Hi everyone, Steve here!

On Wednesday 4th August Pauline and I went to the Lake District for a short break, but also to meet up with The Children's Burns Foundation. The Foundation was established to help young people and their families affected by burn injuries. They encourage programmes targeted at improving psychological well-being, social relationships and independence following a burns injury. All these children have been treated under the care of the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

One of the activities the Foundation has funded is the Children's Burns Camp. Pauline and myself were invited to one of these camps held in Windermere. The children had arrived on Sunday for a week's stay and we visited on the Wednesday. The kids were all sorts of ages and came from differing backgrounds, but all had one thing in common, they'd all suffered from burns - whether it was due to a house fire or chip pan fire or being scalded. When the children arrived, they were all sorted into groups by age and each of the groups were given a team name. The names were taken from different Indian tribes and Pauline and myself became honourary Apaches for the day. The children we spent time with were aged between 10 and 15. To encourage them to be sociable and interactive they were required to hand in any mobile phones, ipods and any hand-held game consoles (Nintendo's and the like). Now you'd have thought telling kids to give up their gizmos would have posed a problem! After all this is the 21st century! Surely they would go off on one! Well truth be told, some did have a teensy problem with this rule, but they soon get used to it! In fact, they found they didn't have the time to fool around with their phones because they were too busy enjoying themselves climbing, abseiling, canoeing, trekking and testing themselves on the camp assault course to name a few of the activities!

Aside from giving up their gizmos for the duration of their stay, they were also given general duties to do! Aw! You didn't think it was all fun and games did you? They were given the task of doing all the washing-up after meals (which are made by responsible adults) and to also look after one another! This meant putting double base cream and pressure garments on themselves and each other. The pressure garments were really tight and can take two people to get them on! Oh yes, by the way, there was another rule of ....."NO TV". Oh my god! You might think that this would be a real hardship to the kids, however after getting over the initial surprise, they didn't seem to miss it because they were too knackered!

Dave Lenagan, who works for Greater Manchester Fire Service was also at the camp because he is the Assistant Director of the Children's Burns Foundation. He was explaining everything to me, including the fact that each camp costs around £13,000 for the week! This might initially seem like a lot of money however it builds the kids' confidence, a confidence which they can carry back home and throughout their life - from that point of view, the experience is priceless.

For obvious reasons the Fire Service and the Children's Burns Foundation have become linked. And now the Foundation recruits volunteers from Greater Manchester Fire Service through 'The Big Red', which can be found on the brigades intranet (for Fire Service personnel only). One such person who recently successfully applied was Watch Manager Ian Melville from Wythenshawe. Ian told me that it was an interview process that took several months' wait to hear the decision. This was his first time at the camp and he was loving every minute, he was really impressed with how well the kids were coping with their experiences. I think Ian's going to be a regular at these camps in the future and I wish him well!

Did you know, each year in Greater Manchester around 400 children suffer burns in one way or another! I must admit, I didn't realise the figure was so high!

If you'd like to help or find out more, you can visit their website www.cbf-uk.org/

On the health front, for those of you who are not aware, I was given the option of transplanting the big toe from my left foot onto my left hand to give me a thumb. However I've since decided that this is not right for me. The big toe is essential for balance and I'm wobbly at the best of times! Plus it always was a bit too Frankenstein for me. I'm getting by with what's left of my hands well enough. I used to wonder how people got by with their disabilities, and now I know! It's because they have to!

Thats all for now until next time, take care all!

FF Steve Morris.

PS Always make sure your smoke alarms are working properly!