A BRAVE fireman who battled horrific blazes during the Blitz was given a standing ovation by firefighters as he celebrated his 100th birthday.

Memories of almost three decades in the fire service came flooding back for John Miller of Bradley Lane, Frodsham, as he checked out equipment and chatted to modern day firefighters in his tour of the market town’s fire station on Monday.

John, who is thought to be one of the oldest retired firemen in the country, has seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren, and only gave up driving this year.

He shared stories from the good old days, remembering how he dreamed of becoming a firefighter as a ten-year-old when he watched fire crews battling flames that wiped out trees on the face of Overton Hill.

But John didn’t realise his dream until much later when he gave up his job at an oil factory in Widnes and joined Cheshire Auxiliary Fire Brigade in 1936.

He was based at Frodsham’s original fire station in Fountain Lane, adjoining Castle Park, and recalled: “All through the Liverpool Blitz, they always used to call us out from Frodsham to help control the fires, and we had to recover bodies from damaged buildings.”

In February 1944, John was transferred to Bournemouth where he spent the rest of the year working with boosted fire defence crews alerted to the threat of German invasion of the south coast.

He continued his fire fighting career after the war as a First Class Driver based in Runcorn and retired in 1963 at the age of 51.

“They were exciting times, we never knew what we were going to be called out for and

I always loved being on duty,” said John, the proud owner of a long-service medal and another very special award honouring the part he played, just before his retirement, rescuing three workmen trapped and overcome by oil fumes in a tanker at Runcorn Docks.

He completed his “wonderful day” with a celebratory lunch with family and friends at Frodsham’s Old Hall Hotel –his childhood home.

John was born in the historic building when it was a private house called Twyg Wyn, and has lived in Frodsham all his life, except for a few years when his father’s job took the family to Fleetwood and Worcester.

He and his wife, Margery, who died in 1973, raised two sons and a daughter in the town, living in Sandfields and Rock House, High Street.

John – who was caretaker at Weaver Vale Primary School for ten years until he finally retired at the age of 65 –now lives in Bradley Lane, were 74 birthday cards, including a treasured greeting from the Queen, are now proudly on display.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is currently recruiting on-call firefighters in Frodsham.

Anyone interested should go along to the Fire Station on Ship Street in any Tuesday night between 6-8pm for a chat with firefighters if you are interested.