A young boy from Northern Ireland was granted his wish to be a firefighter, with help from the UK’s leading manufacturer of protective workwear. Nine-year old Samuel Hawthorne spent a day with the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, and Stockport-based Ballyclare Limited provided him with a tailor-made firefighter’s uniform to wear on his big day.

Ballyclare was approached to help Samuel by Make-A-Wish® UK, the charity that grants magical wishes to enrich the lives of children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions. Samuel was diagnosed with Coffin–Lowry Syndrome shortly after birth. There is no treatment and there is a chance Samuel will deteriorate as he gets older, but he has speech and language therapy and physiotherapy to help with his development.

“Make-A-Wish arranged for Samuel to spend a day at a Belfast fire station,” explains Ballyclare Managing Director, Carlton Greener. “It was important that Samuel looked the part and felt like a real member of the firefighting team so we were delighted to help out.”

Ballyclare made Samuel a bespoke version of the Structural Firefighter tunic and trousers which it supplies to fire brigades throughout the UK. “These garments offer real firefighters a high level of protection in the dangerous tasks they face, and so Samuel was ready to face whatever his big day threw at him,” adds Carlton.

Samuel spent the day with the firefighters, carrying out equipment checks, taking part in drills and displays and he even got to sit in a Fire Appliance! Joanne Micklewright, Director of Wishgranting at Make-A-Wish, said: “We’re very grateful to Ballyclare who helped us make this wish come true. Samuel’s uniform was perfect and helped make the whole experience even more special.”

Samuel’s Dad, Mark, said: “Samuel had so much freedom on the day – it was great as parents to see him have free run being a Firefighter and it meant we could just relax and enjoy it too.

“It brought tears to my eyes seeing the pictures afterwards and thinking back on how great everyone was. We all have lovely memories to look back on.”

Ballyclare - Make a wish

Picture caption: Stockport-based protective workwear manufacturer Ballyclare Limited provided nine-year old Samuel Hawthorne with a tailor-made firefighter’s uniform when he was granted his wish to be a firefighter, thanks to the Make-A-Wish® UK charity and the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service.


About Ballyclare Limited

Ballyclare Limited is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of protective workwear clothing and has been supplying customers with a comprehensive range of industrial workwear, corporate garments, high visibility and waterproof/foul weather garments for over twenty years. In addition, Ballyclare Limited is a trusted supplier of specialist protective clothing to the emergency services and armed forces, and provides managed services which include garment supply, leasing, repair and laundering.


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Wordbase PR and Marketing Communications
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For company enquiries, please contact:
Andy Hart
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Ballyclare Limited
T: 0844 493 2808


Make-A-Wish notes to editors:


1. Make-A-Wish grants magical wishes to enrich the lives of children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions.

2. Please note that Make-A-Wish does not use phrases such as ‘terminally ill’ in order to respect the sensitive nature of life-threatening conditions and what they mean to children and young people and their families. We would ask that this approach is followed and that the term ‘life-threatening conditions’ is used in material for publication.

3. Make-A-Wish should be referred to as Make-A-Wish® UK in the first instance. Thereafter ‘Make-A-Wish’ is suitable. We would ask that you try to keep ‘Make-A-Wish’ on the same line.

4. Make-A-Wish grants magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions. The charity was founded in the UK in 1986. Registered charity number: 295672/SC037479 www.make-a-wish.org.uk.