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   Salford youngsters face the Dragon's Den
Members of a community project bravely entered the ‘Dragons Den’ to pitch ideas designed to improve links with their local fire station. Members of Salford Community Project, which aims to improve links with local people and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS), faced ‘dragons’ County Fire Officer Steve McGuirk, Deputy County Fire Officer Jim Owen, Salford Borough Manager Paul Petrykowski; Mike Emerick from New Economy and Salford Foundation’s Deputy Chief Executive Phil East, as part of the event based on the fun BBC programme. Over the past few months, the team of 18-24 year olds have been busy consulting with people in Eccles to see what they want from their local fire station. Popular responses included the station having more facilities and sporting activities, as well as being more open to the community. Taking this on board the group of 10 came up with three ideas before splitting into smaller teams, each focusing on a different scheme, to pitch to the ‘dragons’. Their ideas included: Children’s Parties at Eccles Fire Station – suitable for children aged 2-9 years. Open Wednesdays – road safety demonstration sessions initially aimed at year 9 and 10 school pupils Rainbow Café – a social enterprise at the Rainbow Rooms (located opposite Eccles Fire Station) to be used for various events, including supporting the children’s parties and station open days. The Dragons were highly impressed and saw potential in all three ideas. Chief Fire Officer Steve McGuirk said: “We all felt that each of the schemes had true potential. In the coming months all three will be worked up into fully functional schemes in the hope they will become integral parts of the fire service linking with the local community.” The Salford Community Project started in January this year and has been developed by GMFRS staff Jan Finch and Gary Dewar along with Joel Weaver seconded from the Salford Foundation (funded by new Economy – Better Life Chances). Source: Greater Manchester Fire. Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
