06/06/2025
Across the Channel with Tads Ciecierski-Holmes
“My dad was a firefighter, and so was my grandfather. I grew up on a fire station. It’s in my blood.”
Danny spent thirty years in the fire service, working his way up through night shifts, day shifts, and 24-hour on-call shifts, until he became Group Commander for Cambridgeshire. Later in his career Danny completed a significant amount of work to address the gender ratio of a traditionally male-dominated industry, supporting open days for women and encouraging them to try out aspects of the job, to the point that Cambridgeshire now has one of the highest percentages of women in any fire service in the UK. But when Danny stepped away from the fire service in 2022, after a long and rewarding career, he was ready to keep going.
“The fire service is a hard environment both mentally and physically from day to day. I didn’t want to stop working, but I knew that I needed to find something that was busy and interesting. I’ve worked in Cambridge most of my life, and I always loved working here, and a Head Porter role fitted the skills that I thought I could transfer across from being a firefighter.”
A job came up at Murray Edwards as Head Porter and Danny spent almost two years there, growing and expanding his career, and finding plenty of opportunity to bring across what he’d learned from the fire service.
“I’ve experienced a lot of different situations and strange incidents, and you’re never prepared for everything – there’s always something else, especially when you’re dealing with people. Having a situation thrown at you and being able to think on your feet, that’s something I’ve carried with me.”
And Danny is very aware that he steps into a role that carries its own weight, following the death of former Head Porter Andrew Fowles in February 2024.
“You can see how much a part of this College Andrew was,” says Danny. “When I was new to the Head Porter role at Murray Edwards he reached out and offered me some help, and when people do that you don't forget it. I'm really conscious that everyone here had a relationship with him, and it’s important to me to give the team time to adjust to me and build trust. Trust, to me, is something you have to earn, and it’s incredibly important to me." And Danny is the kind of person who will put in the time and effort it takes.
In his free time Danny loves the outdoors, especially cycling – he plans to start the twenty miles into work as soon as he can. He noted that Wolfson's gardens are amazing, and is hoping to pick up some tips from the gardening team.
But beyond cycling, and gardening, and travel with his family, Danny says one of his greatest pleasures is getting to know people, including the team of Porters who already are essential to the particular atmosphere that 鶹Ӿnurtures: of warmth, and welcome, everything that Danny says he picked up on when he first arrived.
“I came in and instantly loved the College. I liked the environment, and the people that interviewed me made me feel so welcome. What’s infectious is the warmth of people at Wolfson, everyone is really friendly. So, I walked away from my interview thinking: I hope I’ve done all right!"
“I’m beyond pleased that Danny has joined 鶹Ӿas our new Head Porter. From the interview, I knew that he was the right choice and would fit in with the College and the rest of the team. He brings so much experience to the role and is clearly passionate about leading the fantastic team in the Porters’ Lodge. We’re delighted to have him on board.” Darren Smith, Domestic Bursar
