Guildford Spectrum Hosts Hundreds of Local Schoolchildren at Junior Citizen Event

Guildford Spectrum, one of the largest leisure complexes in the UK managed by Freedom Leisure on behalf of Guildford Borough Council, was delighted to host over 300 local school children to the “Guildford Junior Citizen” event.

The event is organised by Child Safety Media and has been hailed as a monumental success by participants, school leaders and the partner agencies that took part.

Held over 5 days, the event saw over 300 local school children from all over the borough take part in specially designed workshops facilitated by partnering agencies such as British Transport Police, Network Rail/South Western Railway and Hope UK (Drug Awareness Charity), all of whom provided valuable insights to help the young people develop the knowledge and skills they can use in their daily lives to stay safe and make informed decisions as they progress from Primary to Secondary school.

Two other notable workshops were by Thames Basin Heaths Partnership who highlighted the dangers of, and how to avoid wildfires in our heathlands across the borough that have been blighted by wildfires over the last few years and Freedom Leisure’s own workshop talking about Water Safety and how to be safe in around water and what to do if they see someone in difficulty. This workshop was particularly relevant as the event coincided with Drowning Prevention Week organised by Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS).

Ivan Horsfall Turner, Chief Executive Officer, Freedom Leisure said about the event; “We were delighted to host the event in partnership with Guildford Borough Council. As a not for profit charitable leisure trust we are all about improving lives through leisure and it was a joy to see the young people of the borough learning new and valuable life skills at throughout the day from the specialist agencies taking part.

This event is now firmly in the calendar for future years due to the success of the event and I’d like to extend my thanks to the team at Spectrum, to the council, the agencies and Child Safety Media for making this happen”.

Also in attendance was Mayor of Guildford, Councillor Sallie Barker MBE, who commented about the event; “It was lovely to see the children having fun, mixing and interacting with other children from different schools. They were all being educated in important life lessons, learning about being safe, and protecting our environment, enabling them to look after themselves and others.”