Edinburgh man appeals to reunite fire brigade helmet given to him as a child almost 30 years ago to original officer

An Edinburgh man has made a social media appeal to return a Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade helmet after almost three decades to its original owner.

Mark hopes to meet the officer to reunite the helmet (Pic: Mark Martin)

Mark Martin, originally from Bonnyrigg made the appeal on Twitter on Monday alongside images of the helmet.

The 36-year-old presenter was bought the helmet from a car boot sale when he was around eight years old as at the time all he wanted to be was a fireman.

“It was given to me when I was around eight and I had it to play with, I used to imagine I was Fireman Sam,” Mark said, “I always wanted to be a fireman but ended up working on the radio and now in football so a bit of a different path for me. I think it’s now time the original officer got it back and I want to reunite him with it.”

The images show the helmet with the name ‘McAnna’ written inside. Social media users flocked to the post to share information with several people telling him the original owner was Arthur McAnna who was the Officer in Charge at Sighthill Fire Station in the 1980s.

In less than 12 hours of Mark making the appeal, he knew the name, number and address of the original officer and now hopes to get in touch to hand the helmet back over to him.

He added: “It’s pretty cool how the power of social media has gotten me this far in 24 hours. I’d like to meet him when I can and give him his helmet back.”

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have been contacted for comment.