A ROADSHOW which has helped teach hundreds of children important safety messages has been hailed a huge success.More than a thousand children from across Ipswich visited Orwell Park school in Nacton for the Crucial Crew roadshow.
A ROADSHOW which has helped teach hundreds of children important safety messages has been hailed a huge success.
More than a thousand children from across Ipswich visited Orwell Park school in Nacton for the Crucial Crew roadshow.
The two-week event, which ended on Friday, drew together representatives from the emergency services and a number of other organisations to teach children about everything from sensible banking to what to do in a house fire.
Organiser David Long said: "We've had more than 1300 children from 25 schools attend over the two weeks and it's gone really well.
"It's a fun day out for the children but they are also going away having learnt some vitally important safety messages."
The event consisted of a series of mini-workshops, each with an important message to teach the children.
Ipswich Building Society ran sessions on how to keep your money and property safe, One Anglia taught the children about the dangers of the railway and Ipswich Primary Care Trust ran a workshop on drug awareness.
There were also stalls run by the Health and Safety Executive, the National Farmers Union, EDF and the emergency services - the police ran a session teaching children about the dangers of talking to strangers, while the fire service brought along their fire simulation unit.
The scheme has been running for more than ten years but spiralling costs threatened to see it end for good last year.
Determined not to see the event disappear completely, Mr Long, an ex-fireman gathered together with some of his former colleagues to come up with a solution.
Mr Long said: "It had to be cancelled last year because of a lack of support and a venue, but we were all determined that it had to be kept going.
"We were delighted when Orwell Park got in touch with us and told us we could hold it at their sports centre free-of-charge.
"Without their help it could not have happened."
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