On-call firefighter Arwen Bailey from Skipton has won the Rising Star Award in the national Women in the Fire Service Awards for 2023.
The award recognises individuals who have demonstrated a determination to succeed in their role and been an advocate and ambassador on gender equality and empowerment issues.
Arwen was described as “the first to volunteer” and someone who “delved deep into the local community, helping people make better choices”.
The award entry described how Arwen developed and ran a new project for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service aimed at girls aged 13-15 to benefit from a 6-week summer programme. This included team building exercises designed to build self confidence, teamwork, and insights into jobs traditionally male dominated. The project was all practical, appealing to those who thrive best when being active and away from the classroom – all whilst learning and demonstrating new skills and abilities.
Launching the project just 8 months after joining NYFRS, Arwen used her own positive experiences of joining the Service to provide guidance to others that she had felt lacking earlier in her own life. Arwen arranged for several women from other Blue Light Services to speak at the summer programme. The project was a great success, and the senior leadership team at NYFRS are keen for Arwen to grow and develop the programme.
Arwen holds a voluntary position within NYFRS as a Violence Against Women & Girls Ambassador, while being a single parent to two high school aged children.
Arwens’s nominator Ben Williams, Firefighter at North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service at the time of nomination, said: “Arwen is an extraordinary woman, and one of the oldest (at 47) female joiners to our service. She has a relentlessly positive attitude, has thrived in her role as an active firefighter at one of the busiest retained stations in the county, and her views on encouraging young women to ignore gender stereotypes and investigate options in a once male dominated world makes her something special.
“She’s known within the town as ‘that tattooed lady firefighter’, and takes great satisfaction and pride in her position within the community. I can’t think of a better person to ride next to me on the pump when we’re required to do something difficult and challenging. And I can’t think of anyone better suited to showing the wider community how welcome, effective and valuable women can be to the fire service, and none of the 21 of us at Skipton Fire Station would be without her.”
Arwen says: “I’m so proud and grateful to win the WFS Rising Star award against such strong competition and am delighted that NYFRS’s support of my work with young women has been recognised. Working as an active firefighter in Skipton gives me a great deal of personal pride and satisfaction, and developing projects to show the young women and girls in our community that there’s a whole range of options open to them in the Fire Service is such a delight.
"As a more mature (!) joiner to the service juggling parenting two young boys, it shows that anything is possible with enough resilience and determination. I’m enormously grateful to the judging panel for recognising this and for all of my colleagues at Skipton Fire Station and the wider NYFRS team for all the encouragement and support, particularly Group Manager Peel and Station Manager Hughes.”
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Chief Fire Officer Jonathan Dyson, said: “We are extremely proud of Arwen. Her enthusiasm in using personal experience to support, develop and guide girls and young women to thrive and build confidence is fantastic.
“Arwen has made a hugely positive impact in her local community and across the service and we’re honoured Arwen is part of the North Yorkshire Fire Service team.”
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