Firefighter and former Bury St Edmunds boxer takes up new role with West Suffolk College
Firemen Paul Shattock and David Starie are marching from Newmarket to Felixstowe in October in full fire fighting kit with BA in aid of the Fire Fighters' Charity and Arthritis Research UK. They were at Cotswold shop to promote the walk
Bury St Edmunds firefighter and former professional boxer David Starie has been appointed as fire liaison officer at West Suffolk College.
He is working with the School of Participation, providing a positive role model from a uniformed professional background.
Firefighter Starie has worked for the Fire Service for 15 years, eight of them in Bury St Edmunds.
“When this job came up at West Suffolk College, I absolutely jumped at it.
“Hopefully I am having a good influence on the students and perhaps helping to point them in the correct direction in life.
“I have got a lot of experience with sport in general, so we have tried to incorporate that.
“There is a huge amount of discipline required for boxing as there is in any professional sport.
“I have already had one successful career, which I retired from at the age of 29, and I have had to start again from the beginning.
“That shows the young people that it is not ever too late to wipe the slate clean and start again in a completely new direction, which is what I had to do after the boxing.
“Also, the fact that I come into College in uniform on most occasions, helps to break down barriers. They may associate someone in uniform with a negative in their life; I can show them it doesn’t have to be like that.
“I want to let them know that people in uniform – fire, police, paramedics –are there to help them, and that we care about these young people.”
Sherry Fry, Head of School of Participation said: “Already, David is doing some fantastic work. He has organised a number of activities both in College and at the Fire Station.
“We have allocated a number of young men who need a positive male role model to work with David. In addition he will be setting up a session for participants on our Parents with Potential course on an exercise to identify fire safety risks within the home.”
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 13 C
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