A CAMPAIGN to keep a town's children safe is a decade old.

The Crucial Crew project uses workshops to highlight a range of safety issues.

More than 1,300 year six children from 29 Hartlepool schools are to attend this year's event at the training centre at Hartlepool Power Station from October 3 to October 14.

Emma Tierney, Hartlepool Borough Council's principal officer for health and environment and secretary of the Crucial Crew committee, said: "The aim of the event is to provide an enjoyable way of teaching children to become more aware of personal safety, to learn how to react to dangerous situations and to provide an opportunity for children to practice safety skills in an exciting, stimulating and safe setting.

"The intention is for the children to carry the knowledge they gain into their everyday lives."

The workshops will cover a range of scenarios, including fire, kitchen and road safety, prison life, and safety on railways, at the coast, in the garden or when dealing with electrics or fireworks.

The organisations taking part are Hartlepool Borough Council, Hartlepool Primary Care Trust, British Energy Hartlepool, Cleveland Fire Brigade, Cleveland Police, the coastguard, the No Way Trust Ltd, NEDL and Network Rail.

Funding is coming from the health trust and the borough council.

Crucial Crew committee chairman Phil Wilson, a retired police officer who has been involved in the initiative since its start, said: "Crucial Crew has gone from strength to strength over the last decade, and I would estimate that some 14,000 to 15,000 youngsters have benefited from it in that time.

"I would like to thank our funders for their ongoing support, and I look forward to Crucial Crew continuing well into the future."