A CHINESE restaurant in South Ham has donated dozens of meals to firefighters as a thank you for their hard work during the Covid pandemic.

Kam, who owns the Howah takeaway on Buckland Avenue, cooked free meals for firefighters on all four watches based at Basingstoke fire station during the spring.

He said that this was to say thank you to the fire service for everything they did, and has been described as an "incredibly generous man".

As a result, one firefighter at the station has presented Kam with a plaque.

Andy Liming, who is on the station's green watch, said that Kam's actions were a perfect example of "human kindness and community spirit".

Speaking to The Gazette about how the idea came about, Andy said: "I just went in there one day to get something to eat. Kam said I have an idea.

"He said that because the fire station was being used for a vaccine centre, he wanted to give every watch a meal.

"He did some taster meals and if they liked it he would supply enough food for each watch on whatever night they choose.

"He would not take any money and said he was doing it as a thank you for everything the fire service do. We don't expect it but it is really very nice.

"He did 20 meals each time so it was always over and above the food we needed. He wasn't just doing a meal, he was putting in extra bags of chips and curry sauce.

"It is amazing kindness and community spirit.

"Everybody thoroughly enjoyed it and they kept on saying to me 'why has he done this, are we paying?'. The guys enjoy their food and everyone was looking forward to tucking into it."

But even after Andy had organised for each of the station's watches to get a meal, he says Kam still wanted to continue providing them with food.

"I didn't want to take advantage of his kindness," Andy continued. "To give each watch a meal was lovely.

"I went back to the [fire station] manager and said I want to get something done for Kam. He has gone way above what he needed to do. It must have cost him a lot of money.

"This is human kindness and saying 'this is what I want to do'. He is quite a reserved character and didn't want to make a fuss."

The act of generosity came during a stressful period for the town's firefighters - as well as having to change their ways of working with the pandemic, some firefighters have been trained as ambulance drivers.

Additionally, Basingstoke fire station has been the site of a Covid vaccination clinic, with some firefighters also being trained as vaccinators.

"Firefighters adapt very quickly to things and we adapted quickly to having the station as it was," Andy added. "They thought it was a great cause and we could live with the disruption. But we have got used to the way it is.

"I would like to on behalf of everybody at the fire station, say thank you for what he did.

"Although he couldn't say it, everybody was saying to me how kind and great it was.

"He is an incredibly generous man and his family as well."