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Getting on the safe side in Gloucestershire

A bus and a shopfront on a street at Gloucester SkillzoneBrandon’s regional Members’ Boards are made up of people that we support. Their job is to represent everyone that gets support from Brandon, by organising events and reporting back to Brandon’s management.

Recently, one of our Members’ Boards decided that a main aim was to help keep people safe. So, they organised a safety day for people with learning disabilities at Gloucestershire council’s “Skillzone”, an indoor, life-size village that lets people learn how to stay safe in a range of everyday situations – in the home, and out and about.

People learnt about fire hazards, how to safely cross roads, what to do if someone is bullying you on a bus, and even what happens if you get arrested! The day was a huge success, with people learning a lot and enjoying themselves too.

Area Manager and Members’ Board facilitator Abby Rees said:

“After the Grenfell Tower disaster the Members’ Board decided that personal safety is a really important issue for them. They discussed personal experiences of when they had felt unsafe and agreed on what they thought was important to share with others. Following on from this, they planned their safety day at Skillzone themselves and on the day supported other people around the interactive site and shared experiences and stories.”

On the back of that success, the Members’ Board have now decided they’re going to make a video combining footage of their safety day with newly created content, so that they can help even more people with learning disabilities to stay safe.

They’re now working with our communication and involvement teams to make their idea happen. They’ll be very busy filming, recording and editing over the next couple of months, so watch this space!