Nottinghamshire FRS provide safety literature to 100's of children ahead of Child Safety Week
Operational Crews from Newark and Collingham Stations alongside Prevention staff from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service distributed copies of the Home Office funded StayWise books, The Birthday Cake Mistake and Know Your Way Out, at the Nottinghamshire County Show ahead of Child Safety Week, June 5th through 11th.
Michelle Fitzpatrick, District Prevention Officer for Newark and Sherwood, commented, “The Nottinghamshire County Show provides Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service with an opportunity to engage with diverse communities. The show attracts traditionally hard to engage audiences from farmers to Gypsy Roma Traveller communities within this rural geographic location. The show has always been a great opportunity to provide vital rural fire safety messages including farm safety and road safety information, however having the StayWise books this year give us a tool to also start conversations with much younger members of our communities. The books were a real draw for children who were happy to be able to take away a book for themselves, something of importance in Nottinghamshire where literacy rates are below the national average.”
Natasha Neale, UK Programme Coordinator for StayWise said, “It’s great to see Fire and Rescue Services utilising the books to inform children and young people of our fire safety messaging, particularly those from harder to engage communities. Having the books to take away ensures that the learning during the interaction with FRS staff is continued and taken back into the home to be shared with others.”
StayWise have distributed hard copies of both books to all Services for use in Prevention Campaigns. The books are funded by the UK Government through the Home Office Fire Kills Grant. Interactive copies, available in multiple languages and accessible formats such as Makaton, BSL and Widget, are available on the StayWise website, www.staywise.co.uk