Aberdeen Safer Community Trust announces Grampian
Safe Team poster competition winners Aberdeen Safer Community Trust
can announce that the winners of the 2011 Grampian Safe Team poster competition will be presented with their prizes by at
a ceremony taking place at Grampian Fire and Rescue Headquarters, Anderson Drive, today (26th January 2012).
The talented youngsters entered the poster competition after attending Grampian
Safe Team, an interactive safety education event for Primary 7 pupils, in September last year.
Sponsored by Marathon Oil, Grampian Safe Team sees the schoolchildren taking part in simulated real life activities designed to help
them learn how to stay safe
in everyday life by managing risk and making safer choices. . The poster competition
helps to reinforce the lessons learned at Safe Team and encourages the learning to continue beyond the event.
This year’s winners caught the eye of the judges not just for their bold artwork but also
for their keen understanding of the vital safety messages that were delivered at the event.
Emma Bellu,
chief executive of Aberdeen Safer Community Trust said: “We were delighted with
the response to this year’s competition and with the quality of the entries. It is certainly encouraging
to know that the youngsters absorbed the safety messages so well and that they continued to discuss them after their visit
to Grampian Safe Team.” She continued:
“We had a difficult task choosing just three winners from what was a wealth of imaginative
and distinctive posters and this year’s winners should be very proud of themselves. We’re excited
about the prize giving and are looking forward to seeing the children presented with their prizes.” The three
winning artists are: 3rd place – Dmitrij Mitrofanov – Primary 7, Riverbank
School, Tillydrone 2nd place – Anam-Cara Ashcroft-Kelly –Waldorf School,
Cults 1st place – Maximilian Siegrist – Primary 7, Keith Primary school, Aberdeenshire
Each winner will receive a certificate and book tokens. Maximilian Siegrist
from Keith primary school who won first prize will also be presented with a cheque for his school and the winner’s trophy.
They will be presented with their awards by Chief Fire Officer, David Dalziel before being taken
on a tour of the Fire Station. Chief Fire Officer Dalziel said:
“We are delighted to host today’s event. These young people make us proud to be associated
with the project and their talent is obvious. All of our partners are focussed on getting the safety message out and our winning
artists have graphically demonstrated how powerful images are in doing that. My congratulations to them and my thanks to everyone
who entered the competition.” It may be a little known and shocking fact
that children aged between 11 and 16 are more likely to be hurt in road accidents than any other age group and children of
all ages are more likely to die in accidents than from diseases such as leukaemia or meningitis. In fact, in Scotland, approximately 1 in
7 emergency hospital admissions of children occur as a consequence of unintentional injuries. Grampian
Safe Team, the partnership behind the annual safety event is keen to cut these numbers by making pupils more safety aware
in a fun, interactive and educational
way. Click here to view the winning posters
Aberdeen
Safer Community Trust does its bit to tackle £10 million per month road crash costs Aberdeen Safer Community Trust is to stage an event aimed at reducing the number of casualties on North East roads
next week (19th and 20th September) when Older and Wiser, the free annual show run by the charity for
the 50+ festival returns for its 7th year. Entitled ‘Near Misses’,
this year’s Older and Wiser will focus on road safety, highlighting the specific challenges faced by this age group
and demonstrating simple techniques
to deal with the risks portrayed. We all know that as we get older, we often need a little more time to cross the
road than we used to and whether we are pedestrians or drivers, our hearing and vision may not be all it was.
Other drivers can’t always see if a pedestrian has physical limitations and they can be impatient, making going
out a frightening and unpleasant experience for many older people. Added to this we know that people aged
over 60 are 3 times more likely than younger people to be killed as a result of being hit by car.
Using a drama staged by Livewire Theatre company, coupled with other entertaining and informative activities, Older
and Wiser will show older people where they can be at risk and ways they can improve their safety and feel confident as road
users whether they are pedestrians, cyclists, drivers or users of mobility vehicles.
The event comes just days after it was reported that the cost to society of road crashes in the North East was £10
million per month with each individual fatality costing £1.8 million, according to the Department for Transport.
Over the last three years there have been 36 slight, 17 serious and one fatal injury to over 60s
within Aberdeen City, the peak months for incidents being in October, November and December, amounting to over £2.8
million in this age group alone. Commenting on Older and Wisers’ activities, Emma Bellu, Chief Executive of the Trust said: “We have always known the importance of education in improving road safety and in light of the recent headlines
reporting that road crashes across the north-east cost society £10 million a month it seems even more crucial than ever.”
We know that older people face specific challenges and Older and Wiser sets out to tackle these
serious issues by providing practical and easy to implement advice wrapped up in a fun and entertaining day out.”
She added: “If we can prevent just one road death, not only can
will we be saving society up to £1.8 million, we will be saving at least one family the devastating consequences of
these terrible accidents.” The Trust’s ultimate dream is to build a permanent facility
where this kind of interactive learning can be available all year round to everyone in Grampian. The ‘Risk
Ready’ centre would be a purpose built interactive village coupled with 21st century technology to provide a realistic
and experiential way to learn about safety and citizenship, with the ultimate goal of preventing unnecessary injury and death,
reducing crime and improving the quality of life for all residents, visitors and investors in the North East of Scotland.
Key messages identified by Road Safety Grampian that will be included in Older and Wiser will be: finding and using
safe places to cross; using the green cross code properly at all times; dressing appropriately for time of year...be safe
be seen; the effect of vision, hearing and mobility on road users; the law and how it applies to the over 50’s, and
developing a better awareness of how other road users behave. This year’s event will take place
at the Salvation Army Citadel, 28 Castlegate, Aberdeen on 19th and 20th September with doors opening
at 12 o’ clock and the main event beginning at 12.30pm. Free teas and coffees are provided as well
as a free goody bag containing useful information and road safety items. Tickets
for Older and Wiser are free and can be booked by calling Aberdeen Box Office: 01224 641122. Further information
can be obtained by contacting Aberdeen Safer Community Trust on 01224 646461 or by logging on to the website, www.absafe.org.uk.
Grampian Safe Team Puts Safety First About 2,000 primary
seven pupils will quick march down to Gordon Barracks in Aberdeen this month for what promises to be a life-changing experience
in staying safe on the roads, on school buses, when out with friends, in the home or online, thanks to the generous support
of local energy firm Marathon Oil. It may be a little known and
shocking fact that children aged between 11 and 16 are more likely to be hurt in road accidents than any other age group and
children of all ages are more likely to die in accidents than from diseases such as leukaemia or meningitis.
In fact, in Scotland, approximately 1 in 7 emergency hospital admissions of children occur as a
consequence of unintentional injuries. Grampian Safe Team, the partnership behind the annual safety event
is keen to cut these numbers by making pupils more safety aware in a fun, interactive and educational way.
As a result of Marathon Oil’s £10,000 donation, Grampian Safe Team will be able to go
ahead for its 19th year, helping to take the health and safety message beyond the workplace and into everyday life at an early
age. Grampian Safe Team sees the schoolchildren taking part in simulated real life activities
designed to help them learn about protecting themselves from situations which could result in them coming to serious harm.
The emergency services and organisations like the Red Cross,
construction group Richard Irvin, utility company Scottish and Southern Energy and bus company Stagecoach will all play a
part in making the day a memorable learning experience. The event consists of specially
adapted portakabins, each housing a different scenario with potential hazards which the children explore and interact with.
These short interactive 'sets' are all delivered by professionals in their field, offering children of this
age the opportunity to experience 'life events' in a safe, educational and fun environment. Importantly,
the experiential element of Safe Team not only ensures the children have fun whilst learning, it also adds to the potential
for long term retention of these vital safety messages. This year
there will be 9 sets including a dangerous flat containing fire hazards, a building site, a road and a school bus and an electrical
sub station as well as overhead power cables. The schoolchildren will take
part in activities such as administering first aid and CPR, road accident investigation and escaping from a fire.
Pete Jones, UK Managing Director of Marathon Oil said of Grampian Safe Team:
“Marathon Oil is committed to safe and reliable operations,
offshore and onshore in the UK. We are delighted to support Grampian Safe Team and help increase the safety awareness
of young people in the North East through these interactive and impactful workshops.” Emma Bellu, chief executive of Aberdeen Safer Community Trust, the organisers of this year’s event said: “The purpose of these workshops and demonstrations is not to alarm or dictate what youngsters should and shouldn’t
do. Instead, it’s about engaging them in a fun and thrilling way and giving them an experience that
they’ll always remember. We all want to keep our youngsters safe and this way they can see the damage
done when we aren’t aware of the risks and make bad choices. She continued:
“Having real scenarios such as Stagecoach’s bus and Richard Irvin’s building site
really brings the event to life, grabbing the youngster’s attention and getting them talking as they bear witness to
what could be a terrible event. These hands-on workshops give the children a fun day out where they learn
vital skills that they will never forget, to help them to grow up safer and wiser.” Safe Team is also proud to have the support of local Gordon MSP, Alex Salmond, who added:
"There is nothing more important than making sure that our kids are safe, and this scheme does just that, by
engaging children with fun to highlight serious safety issues. Grampian Safe Team has an extremely positive impact on
the local community in the North East – raising awareness of risk and promoting safe practice. "It
is an endeavour worthy of great praise and the substantial efforts of the organisers should not be overlooked. That so many
diverse organisations – from Grampian Police to Stagecoach – have come together to make sure kids in the North
East are safe on the streets is testament to the importance of the cause at hand." Grampian Safe Team runs from 26th August to 9th September at Gordon Barracks, Ellon Road,
Bridge of Don. More details can be found on the Trust’s website at www.absafe.org.uk by phoning Aberdeen
Safer Community Trust on 01224 646461.
I’m Looking Out For My Neighbour The Evening Express
campaign has highlighted how important it is to look out for your neighbours with many people getting together to work as
a community and look after their more vulnerable neighbours, in particular during last winter’s cold snap.
But working and living among us already is an army of unsung heroes who take
responsibility for their communities all year round, working tirelessly as volunteers to create safe and happy neighbourhoods.
Who are these elusive community minded volunteers? You may be surprised to learn that they are part
of the largest voluntary movement in the UK - Neighbourhood Watch. In the UK alone,
Neighbourhood Watch has approximately 155,000 schemes covering up to six million households. It began in
1982 with small groups of volunteer residents looking out for signs of crime in their own neighbourhood and sharing that information
with each other and local police. Today, Aberdeen
has an impressive 340 watches across the city all supported by local charity Aberdeen Safer Community Trust. The
Trust provides vital support, information and advice to watches and acts as a link between the watches and Grampian police.
However, being a part of a modern neighbourhood watch is about more than acting as
the eyes and ears of the community in helping to detect crime. Gone is the stereotype of the old fashioned
‘curtain twitcher’. Today’s Neighbourhood Watch is much more about being a good neighbour,
taking responsibility for making your community a safe, friendly and happy place for everyone to live. The work being carried out by Neighbourhood Watch coordinators and volunteers across the country is vital in creating
safe and strong communities. As well as helping to increase home security, Neighbourhood Watch helps bring
communities closer together. Having a Watch in your area demonstrates that there is a strong network of
neighbours working together as a team, taking control of their own environment and looking after those more vulnerable members
of their community. Each Neighbourhood Watch is owned and run by
its own community meaning it can examine and meet the individual needs of its own area and react quickly to any issues.
And Neighbourhood Watch members provide emotional as well as practical support. Some communities work together to provide youth diversion projects such as local litter picks, designed
to instil a sense of ownership and pride in the younger members of the community. Others meet less regularly
but still help people in their communities to know that they are not alone. In fact, being part of a watch
and having regular contact with others in the neighbourhood can reassure those more vulnerable members of a community, helping
them to feel less isolated. In its simplest form, paying that little extra bit of attention means you can
more easily notice a neighbour in need of assistance or something suspicious in your street. Sometimes
the smallest act can make the biggest difference, like looking after a neighbours house if they are on holiday or in hospital.
In addition, Neighbourhood Watch has access to a wide range of practical toolkits and intelligence
provided by Aberdeen Safer Community Trust and Grampian Police designed to support individual watches to be as effective as
possible to improve safety, reduce crime and the fear of crime. The face of Neighbourhood Watch has changed significantly over the last decade becoming part of the modern era and
this is set to continue. Emails and social networking sites mean that it’s easier than ever to stay
in contact with people in your community and that it does not need to take a huge effort. Keeping in contact
this way makes it less intrusive, more attractive to a younger audience and much easier to spread important information as
speedily as possible. There’s even the opportunity to start a corporate Neighbourhood Watch for businesses
in your area. Chief Executive of Aberdeen
Safer Community Trust, Emma Bellu says: “It’s amazing
what can be accomplished by a small group of people working together to improve their environment. Having
good neighbours is invaluable and being a good neighbour brings many benefits. It takes very little effort
to start saying the occasional hello, and start creating those networks of friends, and people you can trust, who look out
for one another. Neighbourhood Watch is a great way to open up communication with your neighbours as well
as to get advice and information on staying safe and secure.” She continued: “As well as helping
to increase home security, Neighbourhood Watch helps create closer, stronger communities. All areas can
benefit from having a Neighbourhood Watch, it doesn’t even need to be publicised – some places run Silent Schemes.
Neighbourhood Watch is all about neighbourliness; it’s about talking to those that share your community, looking
out for one another in a non intrusive way and supporting those that need that little extra help.” If you’d like to find out how you can look out for your neighbour by joining your local neighbourhood watch or
starting your own watch scheme, contact Aberdeen Safer Community Trust on 01224 646461 or download information from their
website at www.absafe.org.uk.
UN Decade of Action for Road Safety
To mark the launch of the UN Decade of Action
for Road Safety on 11th May 2011, Aberdeen Safer Community Trust, in partnership with Road Safety Grampian,
will be holding a road safety roadshow event at the Castlegate where visitors will learn how “together we can save millions of lives.” Designed to provide advice and information on the risks experienced by drivers, pedestrians and
other road users, the event will use interactive activities to demonstrate the consequences of unsafe road behaviour and give
simple advice on how to stay safe. As
part of the day’s event, people will be able to experience a ‘crash’ whilst wearing a seatbelt, test their
brake reaction times and view a car crash on display. A fire engine and crew will also be available
to talk about what they face when dealing with a road accident. Commenting on the day’s event, chief executive of Aberdeen Safer Community Trust Emma Bellu said, “Road crashes kill more people worldwide than malaria and
are the leading global cause of death for children and young people up to the age of 18. Here in Grampian,
we have one of the highest rates of road accidents per head of population in the whole of the UK. Our
event aims to highlight the dangers that all road users face every day of their lives, whether pedestrians, drivers or cyclists,
using interactive and fun activities.” The event will be just one of thousands taking place globally to mark the launch of the UN Decade
of Action for Road Safety, a campaign aiming to stabilise and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around
the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels. According to the campaign, leading road safety experts believe
that, with the right action, up to 5 million lives could be saved and 50 million injuries prevented during the Decade of Action.
This would represent a reduction of about 50% on the predicted global death toll by 2020. The campaign has the support of UNICEF Ambassador, Ewan McGregor
who says, “I have seen how important
it is that children and communities are educated about road safety and that governments and decision makers do what they can
to make our roads safe.” Emma
Bellu added “By taking part in a small way in such an important global
campaign we hope we can make a difference to the safety of the people of Grampian on our roads. Road accidents
can be prevented and it is our mission is to advance safety, stop accidents and save life.” Anyone can take part free of charge by coming along to the Castlegate
on Wednesday May 11th from 11am to 3pm.
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