Mayor encourages children to ‘Think Safe’

Hundreds of local schoolchildren have learnt to ‘Think Safe’ thanks to an initiative by Eastleigh Borough and Test Valley Borough Councils with support from Waitrose and South West Trains.

The ‘Think Safe’ initiative provides the opportunity for local 10 and 11 year old school children to learn about safety issues relevant to their everyday lives.

Held at Foxlease in the New Forest the annual event, now in its 18th year involved organisations including Fire and Rescue, Police, Red Cross, Coastguard Agency, South West Trains, Trading Standards and Environmental Health.  They all provide children with a scenario to demonstrate everyday dangers from how to make an emergency call to what to do if approached by a stranger, together with issues such as responsible dog ownership or hygienic handwashing.

The Mayor of Eastleigh, Councillor Roger Smith said, “The Council is pleased to have run this successful and popular event for 18 years.  In that time around 18,000 children have learnt about safety issues.  It was good to see so many local children again learning about being and thinking safe at this year’s event.”

Over 400 children from local schools took part including Freegrounds Junior, Fryern Junior, Merdon Junior, St Swithun’s, Norwood Primary, Shakespeare Junior, Shamblehurst Primary and Kings Copse Primary.