Isle of Man Guide

MARTIN Blackburn and Norman McBride have been awarded the clasp to the Civil Defence Long Service medal after each completing 27 years of service with the Isle of Man Civil Defence Corps.

At a ceremony at Government House, the Lieutenant Governor Vice-Admiral Sir Paul Haddacks, accompanied by Lady Haddacks on one of their final official duties before His Excellency’s term of office ends later this month, presented the two dedicated members of the Island’s ‘fifth emergency service’ with the long service clasps to their medals. The ceremony was attended by Home Affairs Minister Adrian Earnshaw MHK and his Departmental colleagues Bill Malarkey MHK and Alan Crowe MLC, together with new Chief Executive Mark Kelly.

UK Cabinet Office representative Martin Klaassen, who is the Resilience Policy Adviser and Defence Medal Officer at the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, commented that although the Home Secretary had issued many thousands of Civil Defence Long Service medals to people completing 15 years’ qualifying service, there were only 88 previous recipients of the clasp which is awarded after a further period of 12 years.

Martin Blackburn joined the Civil Defence Corps as a volunteer first aid instructor in 1983 and rose through the ranks to become Commandant before taking up his current post as Emergency Planning Officer and head of the Civil Defence in 2001. Well known for his involvement in local motorsport and community activities, Mr Blackburn’s involvement with Civil Defence will shortly come to an end due to the restructuring at the Department of Home Affairs.

Martin said:

‘I am proud to have led such a wonderful team of people, they are selfless in the time and enthusiasm they devote to serving the Isle of Man in times of crisis and I have made some wonderful friendships during my time with the Corps. I am of course very sad to be leaving but at the same time reassured that the Corps has the full support of the Minister and Members as amply illustrated by their presence here today.’

Norman McBride joined the Corps in 1984 after army service and served as a Team Leader and Deputy Commandant, and now holds the position of Quartermaster. Before his service in the Royal Signals Corps as a combat driver, Norman qualified as a panel beater and welder with local garage Mylchreests. He now works for local delivery firm TNT.

Martin and Norman were accompanied to Government House by family members and Civil Defence colleagues Ian Young and Tony Glen at a reception to formally mark the occasion and recognise their achievement.

Minister Earnshaw said:

‘The Isle of Man has a fine tradition of looking after people in their time of need and the Civil Defence Corps is an important part of the resilience that allows us to prepare for and respond to emergencies, whatever the scale. Civil Defence is a special organisation – like an insurance policy, you hope you’ll never need them, but if things go wrong you know they’ll be there to help. The commitment shown by Martin and Norman and indeed all those involved with Civil Defence over such a long period of service is testament to the great community spirit of our Island.’

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