Lifeskills Safety Education Centre – Nailsea Volunteer Recognised for Teaching Thousands of Children to Stay Safe
Four volunteer Tour Guides from Lifeskills Safety Education Centre have been recognised for their commitment to teaching thousands of children to stay safe and lead healthy lives.
The guides, who are all from North Somerset, were presented with their awards by Assistant Manager, Gemma Graville, at their annual party.
Violet Delmas, from Nailsea, has been a volunteer at Lifeskills since it opened 20 years ago and has completed over 1000 sessions. Three more guides from North Somerset also received awards for completing over 100 sessions; Kim Lawrence from Long Ashton, Sally Wellman from Flax Bourton and Brenda Wright from Yatton.
Based in The Create Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol, Lifeskills is an interactive village, – a huge film set with 19 realistic “scenarios”. Children visit with their classes and are taken round the centre in groups of 3’s or 4’s, accompanied by volunteer Tour Guides like Violet.
During their visit the children experience practising emergency 999 calls, discovering and reacting to a house fire, carrying out first aid and experiencing the consequences of trespassing on a railway line – all made realistic with the use of light, sound and wind effects.
Violet says, “I’ve had the privilege of being involved as a volunteer at the wonderful Lifeskills Centre for the past 20 years. A promotional video, which ended with a wide smile from a child saying “That was brilliant!” made me want to be part of the action. Since that day, I’ve taught over 4,000 children how to stay safe! The volunteers and staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds and I’ve made many friends. Best of all, every session is as different as the children themselves, and it is a pleasure to get to know each group. I look forward to many more years at Lifeskills.”
Andy Townsend, Manager says “We could not operate the centre without our dedicated team of volunteers. We know what we do here makes a difference and saves lives; one child helped his family escape a house fire, another prevented a gas explosion, and a boy knew how to make a 999 call to help his mother – all skills learnt at Lifeskills.”
Lifeskills urgently needs more volunteers so we’re running hour long “taster sessions” so people interested in becoming a volunteer can come and have a look before committing. Our next taster session is on Wednesday, 12th February 1t 10:30am. To book a place or to arrange an alternative visit, please call Sam Jury on 0117 922 4511 or email sam@lifeskills-bristol.org.uk.
For a 360 degree tour of the Centre (which doesn’t give away the surprises the children will encounter!) take a look at https://lifeskills-bristol.org.uk/about-the-centre/tour/.
Photo: Violet Delmas receiving her award of Bristol Blue Glass from Deputy Manager Gemma Graville on the Lifeskills Village set.