The Brigade in the early 1930s. I had an email from Mr Leonard Lawson in April, 2018, telling me that his father, Cyril Lawson, is standing, 2nd from right. Cyril Lawson joined the Fire Service in 1928, and is also in two other pictures shown below.

Picture Gallery of Bury St Edmunds Fire Brigade Mainly from the 1930s   This first page shows a number of picture postcards originally collected by A Place, a Fireman in the 1930s.   In February 2014 I received an email from Grenville Wilson, stating, "I was very fortunate to purchase at auction the postcards (shown below) which I hope may be of interest to you." Grenville's comments are shown below each postcard. Some time later on February 16th, 2016, I was pleased to receive this email from Beverley Burroughs, "I was researching some family history recently and "googled" Garland Street BSE. I was amazed on scrolling down to see a picture of my grandfather, and it turned out to link me to this site. My grandfather was the young fireman named Arthur William Place more often known as Peter Place." (Editor's comments are in italics.)

Bury St Edmunds Fire Brigade with their Engines in front of the Abbey Gate on Angel Hill. Note that to the left is a small engine with the inscription “Westgate Fire Brigade”. This presumably is the Brewery Engine. Note the Mayor in attendance. (This picture has been published in "Firefighting in Suffolk" by G Saward, 1996. Saward dated this picture to 1930, and noted that the turntable ladder in the centre belonged to the Brewery Brigade. The town and brewery brigades worked closely together. The brewery brigade had existed since September 1888.)	Members of the Fire Brigade outside the Cornhill Station in 1931. I am not sure whether our man is in this picture. If he is, he may be the man standing back row far left.	Fire Engine in the Abbey Gardens dated 1931 on the reverse. (This picture has been published in "Firefighting in Suffolk" by G Saward, 1996. It is June, 1931,and celebrates a new Morris appliance with a 35 foot Ajax ladder. Named from the left are Harry Grey, Robert Ridgeon, George Bugg, Jim Ridgeon, Fred Fenner, Sonny Reeve, Captain A Groves, and the Mayor, Mr Parkington.)
I believe this is a picture of a fireman called A Place who possibly lived in Garland Street. My reasoning is due to inscriptions found on the reverse of other postcards which I will detail below. I believe he is in Fire Brigade uniform.	Head and shoulders portrait of the same young man.	This picture of Arthur William Place, always known as Peter Place, comes from Jennifer Skippings collection, posted on Facebook Old Bury St Edmunds, 6th May, 2020. With the comment:- 'Fireman Place, he lived at 14 St Edmunds Place. Photo postcard by Stan Arthur 21 Hatter Street.'
Bury St Edmunds Fire Brigade 1935. I think our man (Peter Place) is sitting third from the right. This ties the man to the early described photos. Also, L Lawson identifies his father, Cyril Lawson, seated in the front row, 4th from left, beside the fire chief.	Another picture of the Bury Fire Brigade outside their base on the Cornhill in 1935. Our man this time is sitting on the Engine towards the back. (This picture has been published in "Firefighting in Suffolk" by G Saward, 1996. It is May, 1935,and celebrates the Silver Jubilee of King George V. It includes newly acquired breathing apparatus. Named from the left are J Plume, C Plume, A Wells, W Bray, F Payne, A Garrard, J Clark, R Cross, V Baldwin, T Ruddock, A Sandry, J Palfrey, C S Lawson, A Groves, W Reeve, P (?) Place, T Gale, and E Gale.) L Lawson identifies his father, Cyril Lawson, standing, extreme left, front row.	This is a postcard of the Fire Brigade football team of 1935 taken at the Victory ground as described on reverse of postcard. I think that A Place is the young man sitting in the front row, five from the left.
Nothing to suggest where this is, but I believe our man is standing second from the left. I think the unit is the Royal Artillery Territorial Army.	Pratts fuel lorry. Written on the back is the name A Place as standing to the right with the driver named as F Baker. (Was this a change of career for Mr Place?)	The Fire Brigade demonstrate their ambulance functions. This view appeared in "Firefighting in Suffolk" by Graham Saward, where it is dated as 4th May, 1901. Picture supplied by Martyn Taylor.

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The picture at the head of the page is from Nigel Bruton's collection. All the rest are kindly supplied from Grenville Wilson's collection. Page 2 shows pictures and materials from the collection of Leonard Lawson.