FOR 25 years station cook Shirley Cole has made sure that Gosport firefighters have been well fed and watered.

She has just received a certificate for reaching this culinary milestone in service.

But instead of bubbling over with joy, the 48-year-old, who always breezes through her kitchen duties with a cheerful air, is facing the bleak prospect that her job could be given the chop.

Shirley is one of 11 cooks who could lose their jobs in a major shake-up of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service's catering arrangements.

New health and safety regulations would mean firefighters having to rustle up their own meals.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) says the move to get rid of station cooks would be a recipe for disaster.

Now Shirley and her colleagues are fighting back by launching a campaign to save their jobs.

They met at Winchester Fire Station with their Unison union officials to discuss their next move before the fire authority's catering committee meets next month to discuss the future of station cooks.

Shirley said: "They have been doing this catering review for two years but we have never been consulted and we are the cooks. There has been a lack of communication from the fire brigade and we seem to have been kept in the dark."

She said that the cooks carried out a valuable service in preparing meals and looking after the kitchen while the firefighters carried out their own duties.

Shirley, who lives just one street away from Gosport Fire Station, said: "I have always enjoyed the work and I was presented with a certificate for 25 years' service. I thought I was going to be there until I retired."

After Monday's meeting in which FBU officials also took part, Shirley said talks would be continuing.

"We agreed that we should meet again on September 26 for further discussions."

But she said the campaign to save their jobs would continue.