Firefighters at Langley said good-bye last night to veteran colleague Karl Devereux - who has served at the station for 30 years.

Mr Devereux has fought fires all over the area - and part of the combined team that helped fight the famous blaze at Windsor Castle in 1992.

His memories of that famous fire are rather blurred. He said: "You don't think that about where you are when you fighting a fire, however famous the place - you just crack on. It was hours of hard work."

His strongest memory is of a horrendous event in 1989, soon after he started his career.

Langley firefighters joined crews from a wide area attending the famous Marchioness disaster - when a pleasure boat that had been part of the Dunkirk fleet of 'little ships' was hit by another vessel on the Thames in London and sank, drowning 51 of the people on board.

Mr Devereux said: "You do not forget looking for bodies in the river in the middle of the night."

He always knew he wanted to be a firefighter, even when he was a schoolboy in the Wirral.

He was offered the job at Langley aged 20.

He is married to Beverley and has two grown-up children.

He knows exactly what he is going to do at first after his retirement He said: "My daughter is going to live in Australia and I will be going over to see her for a couple of months.

"Of course I will miss the blokes at Langley fire station. We have had good times."

This morning Mr Devereux ended his final shift at Langley by tucking into a hearty breakfast.