"Outstanding" fire officer to receive royal medal today
Jules King was named in Her Majesty's Birthday Honours List last June
An "outstanding, dedicated and professional fire officer" from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service is heading to Windsor Castle today to be presented with a special award.
Jules King, Acting Assistant Director for Safer Communities at the service, will receive the Queen's Fire Service Medal today, having been named in the Queen's Birthday Honours List last year.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio ahead of the big day, Jules revealed to us she didn't believe the news at first.
She said: "Ordinarily a letter would be sent out so it will have Buckingham Palace written on it, but it came through on an email and it just asked for a read receipt. I thought who's that wanting to acknowledge this email? I thought it was a bit of a joke but I kept reading it and realised perhaps it was true.
"I'm enormously proud really and I've got a sense of disbelief. I get that people get recognised for their work all the time but I genuinely love the job I do and feel like I'm just doing my job so don't necessarily feel I've done anything exceptional but I feel incredibly proud and incredibly humbled."
Speaking when the announcement was fire made in June 2020, Chief Fire Officer, Dawn Whittaker said: “I am thrilled to hear of Jules's award, this comes just as she takes up temporary promotion to Assistant Director and also as she completes her course on the NFCC Executive Leadership Programme. Aside from her commitment to our Service, she is the Chair and a true ambassador for Women in the Fire Service and it’s fantastic that all of this has been recognised. She is also an exceptional leader who cares deeply about her colleagues, so on behalf of all ESFRS I am proud to convey our congratulations to Julie. We are all very proud of her.”