Chief Officers Activity Report (Quarter 3 - 1st October to 31st ...

Service Delivery
Wigan
Wigan, Hindley, Atherton and Leigh
KICKZPROJECt
“But we also gave them a number
of practical scenarios. Wearing
breathing apparatus like we do in
house fires and black out goggles
to reduce their sight, they had to
search for casualties in the same
way we do. They really seemed to
enjoy it and at the end they all got
a certificate.”
GMFRS’ Children and Young
People Manager Katie Davis said:
“Fire stations are at the heart of
communities in Greater
Manchester and by engaging with
young people in this way they
become our advocates.
“At GMFRS we want to increase
the employability of young people
and in the last 12 months more
than 2,000 young people have
gained accreditation from our
schemes. We’re now looking at
working with Kickz projects in
other areas of Greater
Manchester.”
Wheelie bin poster
competition
AN ELEVEN-year-old boy’s art
skills are to highlight the dangers
of deliberate wheelie bin fires to
the people of Wigan thanks to a
partnership between GMFRS and
a community art project.
Kayle Brennan won a competition
to design a poster that has been
made into a huge banner
designed to help reduce antisocial
behaviour. It comes after White
Watch firefighters from Wigan Fire
Station attended Art2Art, a
creative art youth club at
Sunshine House Community
Centre in the Scholes, Wigan.
Kayle, a Year 7 pupil at Rose
Bridge High School in Ince, said:
“It was a real surprise to have my
poster made into a massive big
thing - I’ve been going to Art2Art
for a year because I really like art
at school and when the
firefighters came down it got me
thinking.
“I’ve seen a bin fire, with all the
plastic melted down and I know
some kids think setting fire to bins
is cool but it’s really not - because
it can be really dangerous.”
Watch Manager Martyn Smith
said: “As a watch we wanted to
work with the young people at
Art2Art and we were able to talk
to them about fire safety and
some of the problems we can
have when people deliberately set
fire to wheelie bins.
“Kayle’s poster was really clever –
all of White Watch loved his
slogan: ‘Setting fire to bins is
wheelie dumb’ – it’s really catchy
and will hopefully hit home with
his peers, so that we can get on
with doing our job – being there to
protect people and prevent and
respond to fires.”
WHEELIEBINPOStERCOMPEtItION
Drink Drive Campaign
launched in Wigan
A DRINK driver trying to flee the
scene of a car crash was arrested
and breathalysed during the
Winter Drink Drive Campaign
launch in Wigan.
But thankfully, it was all part of a
multi-agency drama presentation
involving all 999 partners in Wigan
town centre on Saturday,
December 1.
Wigan MP Lisa Nandy was there
to see actors from Wigan and
Leigh College playing the parts of
a young drink driver and her friends.
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