A montage showing our kind donors, Partnership Manager Christine Duncan and the doll's house shop.

19 August 2008

A rather unusual appeal by Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service has come to a quick and successful conclusion.

Community safety staff asked whether anyone had a large doll’s house surplus to requirements – and they are now the proud owners of three, along with an assortment of miniature pieces of furniture.

Partnership Manager David Ridley was invited to explain what it was all about on BBC Three Counties Radio yesterday morning. He told listeners that the doll’s houses would be used as props at safety exhibitions and displays.

By the end of the day he’d had calls from two generous donors in Milton Keynes and one in Luton, along with an offer of furniture from Sue’s Little Bits, a specialist shop in Bedford. He has now collected them all and is starting to work on the first campaign – a series of flood awareness events – with colleagues from Milton Keynes Community Safety Partnership.

David said: “We would like to thank BBC Three Counties Radio and its listeners for helping us. The houses will be used to help demonstrate home and fire safety messages to the public, as well as flood protection measures.

“One of them is a three-story house, so it will be particularly useful when we are running campaigns about safety in bedsits and houses in multiple occupation.”