The safety of youngsters at schools across the Burnham-On-Sea area has been given a boost this week after the donation of 1,300 high-visibility safety vests.
PC Tracey Stiles and her fellow officers at Burnham-On-Sea Police Station have been supporting local schools by supplying them with high visibility vests worn by children when they are engaged in activities outside school.
PC Stiles told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “1,300 vests have been distributed to all our local schools so that whenever the children are walking near roads they can be clearly seen. I think this will help everyone to appreciate how dangerous our roads can be to young people and at the same time highlight the importance of road safety to all children. It has been a difficult project to manage such a large number of resources, but I believe it is well worth it.”
PCSO Sara England, who has helped in distributing the vests, added: “I think this is a really good way that our local police team can demonstrate how we work within the community to ensure as many people are as safe as possible whenever possible. The children have told us they are always really pleased to see us and look forward to wearing the vests as soon as possible. I think this will make a real difference.”
Burnham County Councillor Burridge Clayton, who donated money from his council comunity fund for the scheme, added: “When the Police approached me with their ideas I was more then willing to offer contributions from the community fund as my focus has been towards the young people of our town. This shows our commitment to working in partnership to achieve projects such as this.”
The costs of providing the vests have been met by contributions by the County Council and Avon and Somerset Constabulary.
Pictured (top) are Cllr Peter Burridge-Clayton, Mrs Janet Sadiq Head Teacher of Burnham Infant school, and PCSO Andy Dancy and (above) PC Tracey Stiles with Mr Kevin Roberts Dept Head of Brent Knoll School
