The funeral of our colleague and founder member, John Cox

On Wednesday 14th February 2024, a crew of five set off from Romford heading for Basingstoke in Hampshire in preparation to carry our dear colleague, and founder member, John Cox, on his final shout the following day.

John was a proud, founder member of the 240 Preservation Group having driven, operated and ridden in the back of the appliance after it was transferred into to K22 Wandsworth in 1969 after its first 5 years of service at B29 New Cross.

Born in Walworth, south London in 1947 John grew up in Streatham.
In March 1967 he walked through the arch at the LFB training school at Southwark to begin recruit training. On passing out from training school he was posted to the red watch at K30 New Malden.
In 1971 he transferred to the white watch at K22 Wandsworth where he first became acquainted with 240FLM.
In the 1980s John moved to Basingstoke and in 1988 transferred to D26 Twickenham on the red watch.
John retired from the LFB in 1995.

Notable amongs John's adventures with 240FLM was the attendance and firefighting operations during the Iranian Embassy Siege which took place on the 5th May 1980. The Embassy, located in Princes gate, Kensington, West London was the subject of a terrorist incursion and hostage situation which ultimately required the SAS to intervene to end. John had been ordered, with his Officer in charge, to drive 240FLM from its base in Wandsworth to Kensington fire station to "cover" whilst the Kensington Turntable Ladder was in attendance at the incident. However, En route to Kensington, the SAS stormed the building resulting in a serious fire breaking out and thus requiring more fire brigade resources. 240FLM, with John at the wheel, were ordered straight to the fire and over the next few hours got to work as a "water tower" directing water into the upper floors and roof of the now blazing building.

This was but one of the many incidents that John and 240FLM were jointly involved in during his long career.

On ther day of the funeral, Basingstoke fire station (Hampshire Fire Brigade) gratefully provided overnight security for the appliance whilst the generosity of Johns family meant the crew were guests at a local hotel. The crews at Basingstoke also provided a guard of honour as his cortege passed by the station which was a moving and emotional  moment.
 
The funeral took place at Basingstoke crematorium where family and past colleagues gathered to witness John being carried on his ultimate journey by his beloved turntable ladders – better known to many as `Kilo two-two-three`.
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In November 2014, shortly after the group purchased the appliance from the Ebay auction site, John came face to face with it again in Wicken, Cambridgeshire where it was being stored prior to restoration. John generously arranged for his wife Carol to completely restore the original seats including upholstery at no cost to the group. A generous gesture indeed.
Goodbye John, it was a pleasure old buddy.
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Photos used to illustrate this article have been generously provided by Dave Porter, Ivan Barefield, Pete Weight and The Cox family., UK Copyright rules apply.

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