Hartlepool youngsters show how you can keep safe after taking part in town-wide Crucial Crew event

Crucial Crew, an annual multi-agency event that teaches children how to stay safe through a series of practical workshops, took place last October at EDF Energy’s Hartlepool Power Station.

The latest of the annual events was attended by more than 1,300 Year 6 pupils from 32 primary schools across the town.

Following the event, the organising committee invited pupils to enter a competition to design a postcard depicting a safety message they had learned.

A total of 1,179 children from 29 primary schools entered, with a winner and runner-up being selected from each school.

The overall town winner was Sophie Neath-Crannage from Grange Primary School, while Millie Cowan from St Peter’s Elwick Primary School was overall town runner-up.

Joanne Andrews, Hartlepool Borough Council’s child injury prevention co-ordinator and Crucial Crew organiser, said: “The big challenge is to ensure that youngsters remember the lessons learned during the event and continue to put them into practice in their everyday lives.

“The competition to design a postcard aims to focus pupils’ minds on what they learned so that the knowledge stays with them for a long time to come.

“Some excellent postcards were designed and I would like to congratulate everyone who entered the competition on their efforts.”

Crucial Crew 2018 was supported by a range of companies and organisations, including Hartlepool Borough Council, Northern Powergrid, Cleveland Fire Brigade, EDF Energy, Beamish Open Air Museum, the RNLI, Cleveland Police and HART (Hartlepool Action Recovery Team).