Safety First. Poem and Poster Competition.

Of the thousand or so, annual firework injuries suffered annually more than 70% of them are children.

The fact of the matter is, fireworks are fascinating and little ones are bound to want to touch them. A number of infant, pre-schools and nurseries are using fun as a way to teach the little ones the huge dangers with fireworks.

My little grand-daughter Lacey has made a poster at her nursery school which has a teddy with a poorly paw which he burned on a sparkler. Although she is unlikely to be a Picasso in years to come, it is great to bring lots of little ones together to get the message across.

Each year the communities in and around Warwickshire take part in the annual competition to produce a poem and a poster about Firework Safety run by the local Trading Standards Service. The competition is designed to bring to mind the dangers of fireworks and how to avoid unnecessary injuries.

Why not get your local school to take part? The chaps in Warwickshire get a massive response and split the competition into two groups: Nursery (or pre-school), reception and years 1 and 2 and then the second group for years 3 and 4.

The tiny ones just have to do the poster where the older children have to provide a short poem or safety rhyme. The winners receive a £10.00 book token and the winning posters will be used in the 2014 campaign for Bonfire Night Safety.

Why not give it a try at your local school. A couple of £10.00 gift tokens for the bookshop and a couple of people to adjudicate the event and you are off. It keeps safety at the forefront of thinking without being too intrusive. Anyone of a certain age (and this old bird is 50 next year!) may remember a public safety film about a fire where a little dolly got all her face burned off having fallen into a fire. I can still picture that image now, forty-some years later so it just goes to show, it doesn't have to be fussy to make an impact.