Watch the singing Calderdale firefighter spread some Christmas cheer with a twist on a festive classic

A Calderdale firefighter is showing off his impressive vocal talents with a twist on a classic Christmas song – to try and keep the public safe this festive season.

Jonathan Arey, who is based at Rastrick Fire Station, decided a music video would be a fun way to pass on important Christmas wellbeing messages to the public.

So Jon set to work creating a parody of ‘The Pogues’ classic song “A Fairy Tale of New York”.

He then enlisted his Crew Commander Andy Ball to film and edit the production, alongside local choir member Abi Austin to take the iconic part of Kirsty MacColl in the new version of the tune.

The result is “A Tale of Safe and Well” which warns of perils including drink driving, not testing your smoke alarms and overloading your Christmas tree with lights.

The University of Huddersfield also kindly helped spread the message by allowing Jon to film and record part of the video in their music studios.

Jon said: “I love singing in my spare time so I thought this would be a fun way to remind the public about some key messages over Christmas so people can have a safe and happy festive period.

“The trickiest part was rewriting our safety messages to fit with the tune, but I think we did really well and the end result looks great.

“I really hope people in West Yorkshire enjoy watching it – it’s meant to be a bit of fun and put smiles on their faces – but then also has some important messages to help keep them safe this Christmas.

“I’m looking forward to Christmas this year – I got married recently so it should be a good one! I’m working over the Christmas week, but look forward to a good balance of family time, alongside keeping the people of West Yorkshire safe and well!”