Crucial Crew

Members of Wrexham Erddig Rotary have been supporting "Crucial Crew" for more than 15 years.

"For  the fifteenth occasion, members of Wrexham Erddig Rotary Club acted as  chaperones  at  the  Crucial Crew  event  at  Nescliffe  Army  Camp,   when Graham Kelly, Peter Lambert and Barry Lloyd Jones joined twelve other groups.

 The purpose of the event is to provide examples and scenarios pointing out the dangers there  are in  many areas of life,and providing instruction in how they may best be avoided.

Schools from areas around Shrewsbury are represented and split between groups of eleven year olds. Usually ten to each group. After a briefing ,the groups are connected with their chaperone and the journey starts. A siren sounds the end of each fifteen minutes spent at each presentation, so that the groups are always moving with the sound of their excited voices.

 A total of thirteen areas are visited, Coastguards pointing out the hazards of seaside beaches and cliffs, the fire brigade the perils of fire and the effects of hoax calls. The injuries which can be caused by cyclists not wearing helmets and wearing luminous jackets were quite stark. As were the life threatening misuses of electricity.

 Two events brought  the children very much into contact with the dangers of being talked into things. Going into a blacked out  area when the lights were turned off, albeit briefly, demonstrated how easy it was to be 'kidnapped' This was arranged to test how closely attention had been paid to the briefing. A disco was all light s and music with  'Smarties' being offered, only to be followed by a visit from a Policeman who went on to give warnings of the dangers of drugs. This was probably the most popular as a number of groups had at least one member who wanted to return!!

 The groups were also tested on hand washing, with the invisible bacteria shown under ultra violet light, teeth cleaning and the Red Cross giving instruction on the placing of accident victims in the recovery position.

Cyber Bullying was a new presentation.

 As the area is agricultural, the NFU had arranged for a local farmer to demonstrate. The areas where death and injury can be caused where large items of equipment and barns are all too attractive to youthful imaginations and enthusiasms which do not recognize danger.

 Many items are on sale with age restrictions, these were tested. It does seem however that those relating to gambling, alcohol, fireworks etc are moving upwards so that they are becoming akin to an individual's coming of age.

 Changes were made from previous years, with some new items replacing former ones; there are so many areas which could be covered, as adults can often only see danger, whereas children see none!"