Latest news with #GlenEdwards
ITV News
4 days ago
- General
- ITV News
Hero crane driver who rescued man from burning building in Reading granted bucket list wish
Glen Edwards talked to ITV News Meridian's Wesley Smith about his heroic rescue and his bucket list wish The crane operator who rescued a worker from a burning tower block at Reading's Station Hill has been granted his bucket list of wishes thanks to a Berkshire charity. No-one who saw the Station Hill fire in November 2023 will ever forget the sight as smoke and flames over the centre of Reading. It was crane driver, Glen Edwards, who saved the day, putting his own life at risk in a daring mission to rescue a trapped worker from the top of the building, surrounded by flames. Glen Edwards said: "The smoke was absolutely intense, I could hardly see him, well, I couldn't see him. I knew he was there, he was standing on the edge of the building. "By the time I got the cradle on he had about two metres of area he was standing on that wasn't alight. The adrenalin was out the roof. "He's got two girls, eight and 13 they were at the time, and I got a ver heartfelt letter that would bring a tear to your eye." Glen, who lives near Ascot, didn't realise at the time he had cancer of the tongue. Although it was treated successfully, the cancer has since returned. "The cancer has spread unfortunately to five places in my spine." At an awards ceremony in Reading, Glen and his wife met Gini Hackett, from Burghfield, who set up the charity, Bucket List Wishes in memory of her mother. She heard Glen had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and gladly took on the role fairy godmother. Gini said: "I found it amazing to do this wish for him. He's really humble, what he did was incredible. He is a real hero to us so we absolutely had to do something for him." But 66-year-old Glen is a modest man and didn't ask for an exotic holiday or lavish cruise. He needed to move home and wanted some new flooring and a in came new flooring, kitchen equipment, generous vouchers for bedding and another big surprise, a fishing trip to Swanage. Glen said: "This is unbelievable what's happened to me, quite emotional really."Whatever the future may hold for Glen, thanks to Gini, he can rest assured he's left his family well cared for and forever proud of their true hero.
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
'Bruce Willis of Reading' who rescued man from blazing £750m tower block gets bucket list wishes fulfilled as he battles incurable cancer
A terminally ill crane operator who became a national hero after rescuing a man from a burning £750 million tower block is set to have his bucket list wishes fulfilled. Glen Edwards, 66, was dubbed 'the Bruce Willis of Reading' after he used a cage to save a worker's life at the Station Hill construction site in the town in 2023. Tragically, Mr Edwards revealed last year he had been diagnosed with an incurable spine cancer shortly after the rescue. After being told his cancer had grown Mr Edwards' wife, Kate, asked Bucket List Wishes for help 'to make some lasting treasured memories together whilst we can'. The charity will first help the couple and their teenage son move home, before organising several other wishes, including a family photo shoot, for Mr Edwards and his loved ones once they are settled in. Mr Edwards told the BBC: 'Things are not too clever... I've got diagnosed with terminal cancer. 'I had cancer in the tongue in February when I rescued the guy... I got that cleared up with radiotherapy but then in the next breath, after I had a full body scan, the consultant told me that I had cancer in my spine in five places. 'I have been undergoing chemotherapy... but it has grown, to cut a long story short.' Mr Edwards, 66, was dubbed 'the Bruce Willis of Reading' after he used a cage to save a worker's life at the Station Hill construction site in the town in 2023. Tragically, Mr Edwards revealed last year he had been diagnosed with an incurable spine cancer shortly after the rescue Gini Hackett, founder of the charity that grants wishes for terminally ill adults in Berkshire, said that she remembers watching Mr Edwards' BBC Make A Difference Awards nomination and thinking, 'Wow.. he's incredible, what an incredible thing to do for another human.' Speaking about her reaction to being contacted by Kate she added: 'We found this humbling but also we've been emotional about this because we know how much of a hero Glen is. 'Hopefully we have gone over and above and made a quite simple but stressful thing of moving a lot easier for him.' The charity has organised the house move, along with carpets, flooring, blinds and kitchen essentials, including an oven, as well as a new shed, and food shopping and bedding vouchers. Thanking the charity, Mr Edwards described Gini as an 'angel.' Alongside supporting the move, the charity has also helped the Edwards family set up an online fundraising page to achieve any further wishes. Mr Edwards was thanked by Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue for his 'incredibly skilful rescue.' His actions were filmed on video and quickly went viral, leading to him appearing on Good Morning Britain (GMB), collecting a string of awards and receiving £10,000 from the public following a fundraiser to 'buy him a pint'. He manoeuvred the crane and its personnel transportation cage into the smoke and fire to dramatically give a trapped worker on the eighth floor an escape route at the last moment. Remarkable footage showed the man stranded at the top of the £750m One Station Hill development in Reading as the building is engulfed in flames Recounting the unbelievable events, Mr Edwards said he has never experienced a rescue as 'dramatic' as this one on the job. 'Never at all. I have cradled a couple of guys off - [when they] damaged their leg and things like that so they could get in an ambulance - but nothing as dramatic as this,' he said. Mr Edwards said he was concreting when someone shouted up to him that a man was stuck on level eight of the development. 'I was actually concreting at the time, I had the concrete skip on. So I was in that area and then one of my banksmen on the ground said there is a fire and the fire alarm was going off. I was in the crane operating. 'So I had to get the concrete skip off, I was hoisting up and then someone shouted out ''there's someone on level eight'' which is that level where the guy was, and I stopped hoisting up, I was about 20 metres up in the air. 'As I slewed round I could see the guy out my left window - he was waving his coat, waving his coat. You can see there the wind was absolutely terrible.' He added: 'I knew the radius [...] I decided I was going to come down on top of that radius. As I was coming down the cradle was swinging backwards and forwards and catching the wind. 'When it comes off the fence it kicks off the fence and he just managed to grab hold of it.' The heroic crane driver said he was 'really shaking' during the ordeal, adding: 'I was alright when I got down and everything and I needed a quiet minute to get myself together. 'When everyone was about - when everyone come up to me and said ''well done, well done'' - that's when the penny dropped.' The dramatic three-minute rescue undoubtedly saved the builder's life as all around him blazing cladding caused massive clouds of toxic smoke. Incredibly despite the severity of the fire, only two people needed to go to hospital with smoke inhalation, including the workman saved by Mr Edwards. The 16-storey office block is situated opposite Reading rail and Crossrail station, and it was the site of another fire five months prior to the incident with Mr Edwards. A carpenter, who was working nearby, said onlookers below applauded as the man clambered into a metal basket attached to the crane and was carried away from the flames. The witness, who did not want to be named, said: 'I was in the next door building, there was a guy standing up there (on top of the building), luckily the crane came in just in time. 'He was coughing [when he came down], from the smoke, you know what I mean. 'When he got inside the crane and the crane put him down everyone was clapping. 'The crane driver was very fast. He was still in the crane while the building was on fire.'
BBC News
15-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Terminally ill Reading crane hero has bucket list wishes granted
A terminally ill hero crane operator, who rescued a workman from a burning high-rise building is set to get his bucket list wishes Edwards was dubbed the "Bruce Willis of Reading" after using a cage to rescue the workman, who was trapped on a roof of the Station Hill development in November being told his spine cancer had grown Mr Edwards' wife, Kate, asked Bucket List Wishes for help "to make some lasting treasured memories together whilst we can".The charity has stepped in and will first help the couple and their teenage son move home, before organising several other wishes for Mr Edwards and his loved ones once they are settled in. Mr Edwards said: "Things are not too clever... I've got [sic] diagnosed with terminal cancer."I had cancer in the tongue in February when I rescued the guy... I got that cleared up with radiotherapy but then in the next breath, after I had a full body scan, the consultant told me that I had cancer in my spine in five places."I have been undergoing chemotherapy... but it has grown, to cut a long story short."Feeling overwhelmed with their much-awaited house move and the news Mr Edwards was set to undergo another course of chemotherapy in the next few weeks, Mrs Edwards turned to Bucket List Wishes. The couple had previously met Gini Hackett, founder of the Berkshire charity that grants wishes for terminally ill adults in Berkshire, at the BBC Radio Berkshire Make a Difference Hackett said: "I just remember watching his nomination and thinking, 'Wow.. he's incredible, what an incredible thing to do for another human'."Then Glen's wife contacted us just over a week ago to ask us if we would help them."We found this humbling but also we've been emotional about this because we know how much of a hero Glen is... hopefully we have gone over and above and made a quite simple but stressful thing of moving a lot easier for him."The charity has organised the house move, along with carpets, flooring, blinds and kitchen essentials, including an oven. Thanking the charity, Mr Edwards described Gini as an "angel"."What she has done for us has been unbelievable, she has taken so much pressure off us," he said his diagnosis meant he had been unable to work."I've had to retire... I had no intention of retiring at 65," he supporting the move, the charity has also helped the Edwards family set up an online fundraising page to achieve their further Edwards, who has always played down his heroics, was thanked by Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue for his incredibly skilful rescue, under extremely difficult circumstances. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
