Children from over 40 schools across the area have been busy recently designing their Fireworks Safety posters for the Annual competition sponsored by Bath Building Society.
Posters have been judged on their Fireworks safety message and artistic merit. The competition has four age group categories: 4 – 5 years, 6 – 7 years, 8 – 9 years and 10 years plus. There is also a separate category for special schools.
Bath Building Society, The Rotary Club and Bath & North East Somerset Council launched the annual Fireworks Safety Poster competition at Widcombe Infant School in Bath in September.
Dick Jenkins, Chief Executive of Bath Building Society said: “We have been sponsoring the Fireworks and the Poster competition for 38 years this year I have been a Judge for the last ten years and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s great to see the children’s creativity in the posters plus the safety messages that they understand about Fireworks. It was tough to choose the winners this year as there were some great entries. Thank you to all the children that entered!”
Alan Keeling, Chairman of The Rotary Club’s Fireworks Committee said: “The Poster competition is a key factor in launching the safety message about the Fireworks Display in Bath. The competition ensures that the youngest participants are aware of the potential dangers of fireworks if handled incorrectly.”
The judges for this year’s competition were: Dick Jenkins and Tiffany Hardie-Evans from Bath Building Society, Councillor Neil Butters, Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, Councillor Malcolm Lees the Mayor of Bath, Harry Awramenko and Bob Leppier from Avon Fire & Rescue Service and Roger McSweeney the President of The Bath Rotary Club.
Avon Fire & Rescue Service Station Manager John Rides said: “This competition is a great way to get youngsters to think about taking care when enjoying firework celebrations. We want everyone to enjoy the celebrations around bonfire night safely so our best advice would be to attend an organised display as these events tend to be much safer. Burns from fireworks can be extremely painful so we would advise anyone planning their own event to follow the Firework Code and keep young people well away from the bonfire and fireworks.”
For more firework safety advice visit www.avonfire.gov.uk and visit the Your Safety pages.
All children entering the competition will be given a Free Child Voucher that can be exchanged for a ticket to the Display when purchasing an Adult ticket.
The Fireworks Display will take place on Saturday 2nd November this year at The Recreation Ground and will be run by The Rotary Club and sponsored by Bath Building Society.
Tickets can be bought from all Bath Building Society branches, Bath Rugby Ticket Office, the Students’ Union at the University of Bath and the Bath Box Office Ticket Agency (Bath Tourism Office). Standard Adult admission costs £5 if bought in advance, and £6 on the gate. Children’s tickets are £3 in advance and £4 on the gate.
All monies raised will go to Julian House and Bath Pre-Opportunity School. Last year the Fireworks display raised over £17,000 for local charities, and the headline charities for the event this year will be Julian House and Bath Opportunity-Pre School.
