Testing centre is named after Hull hero who found a baby
SURPRISE RECOGNITION TEN YEARS AFTER MAKING SHOCK DISCOVERY
A HULL man who discovered an abandoned baby has been honoured for his actions nearly a decade later with a Covid-19 testing centre named after him.
Joel Redhead, now 27, was 17 when he came across the child in the early hours of the morning as he walked home from a night out in September 2011.
G4S officially named their Southcoates Lane site in east Hull as The Joel Redhead Community LTS.
“As much of a surprise as it was, it’s just nice to get recognised for something good after so long,” he said, “especially with everything that is going on in the world. It was just good to hear for our family.”
Joel was making his way down Southcoates Lane, east Hull, at 3.30am when he stumbled upon a pram in the middle of the footpath, facing a nearby wall.
What he did not expect to see on inspecting the pram was a 17-month-old baby girl.
After looking around to see if any parents were nearby, Joel pushed the pram to a nearby friend’s house, where his friends mother called the police.
Now, nearly ten years after the life-saving discovery, Joel has been honoured for his actions in the perfect modern-day style, with a testing centre named after him.
Joel has been commended more recently fundraising for the NICU team, who saved his own daughter after she was born prematurely in October 2019. Indie Arabella Redhead was born 11 weeks premature in October 2019 weighing just 3lbs, and she had to spend 50 days in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
G4S have been running an initiative that sees local employees vote on the area’s unsung heroes to be the name of new testing centres.
In reaction to the recognition he has received, Joel said: “I just got a message from someone who had been working at the testing centre and basically said the centre had been named after me in recognition for what happened in 2011 and the fundraising I did for Hull NICU.
“It was a big surprise as it’s not really linked to anything I’ve done in the past. It was really out of the blue because I had’t heard anything about it.
A spokesman for the testing centre at G4S said: “We are extremely proud of our dedicated team members at testing sites across the country who in a time of crisis jumped at the opportunity to be part of the national response to the pandemic.
“The vast majority come from the local areas, and their decisions to name the sites after local heroes and landmarks have helped to increase the bond between our testing sites and the communities.”