18 November 2024
Telling a farmer what to do is not always easy, but, if your child or teen comes home from school with a free booklet on farm safety and asks what you’re doing to keep them safe at the family farm, you would probably read the booklet and take notice! This is why the Wales Farm Safety Partnership (WFSP) will be reaching out to children and young people at this year’s Royal Welsh Winter Fair at Llanelwedd (25/26 November.
The well-known S4C presenter and WFSP ambassador, Alun Elidyr, will chair a farm safety event attended by Deputy First Minister & Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies at the Winter Fair. Speaking ahead of the event, the Cabinet Secretary said,
“The Wales Farm Safety Partnership, a collaboration of all the key rural stakeholders in Wales has, put farm safety on the agenda throughout our industry, since it was established in 2010.
“Their collective efforts prioritise farm safety at grass roots level and I’m proud that we continue to invest in this vital work through Farming Connect.
“I want to ensure that all Welsh farmers have the awareness and knowledge to make their farms safer places to live and work.
“Together, we can and must reduce the number of terrible tragedies which devastate so many families and communities every year.”
Alun Elidyr says that ‘Bob the Sheepdog’, the safety-conscious lead character in a series of free children’s books and videos, could be one of the cleverest tools in the marketing box when it comes to challenging the behaviours of farming families in Wales.
Mr Elidyr explained that by targeting children through WFSP’s bilingual ‘Nice one Bob’ campaign, now in its second year, they are planting the idea of staying safe on farms within the minds of the next generation.
“Catch them young is the strategy behind this campaign! We want children to stop and ‘think safe’ from their earliest days, to become our ‘mini ambassadors’ by influencing their families through talking about farm safety.
Written by renowned Welsh author Bethan Gwanas, ‘Nice one again Bob’, aimed at young children and available for the first time at the Winter Fair, is packed with colourful illustrations and Bob’s sensible ‘doggie’ advice for keeping Tom and his little cousin Lia safe on the family farm. Winter Fair visitors might spot Bob anywhere around the showground or at the WFSP stand (Glamorgan Hall) where he’ll be happy to shake a paw, give you a free copy of ‘Nice one again Bob’ and have his photograph taken.
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society has also arranged a farm safety treasure hunt as part of its annual ‘school competition’ project, with at least one clue at the WFSP stand.