Torrential rain and thunderstorms couldn’t dampen the spirit of over 1,000 enthusiastic residents who turned up for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s first ever Safe Summer Fun Day on Saturday July 19th.

Fire truck demonstrations, a robot treasure hunt and a chance to tour the newest safety centre in the country is just a sample of what was enjoyed by the record number of people for an open day.

Firefighter house rescue.

Working together with safety centre, SkillZONE and Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership the flagship event for the fire service this year offered a chance for local residents to visit Gloucester South Fire Station and experience SkillZONE.

The free family event promoted the underlying theme of having a safe summer holiday and was also packed full of great kid’s activities in the KidZONE such as face painting, games and coloring.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Geoff Sallis says: “We were overwhelmed by the great crowd of local people who came to our event despite the rain. Along with enjoying all the activities on offer we hope that residents took on board the summer safety advice for a happy holiday.”

“A big thank-you to all that supported this year’s Safe Summer Fun Day whether they were stall holders or our partners such as the Police, Ambulance, British Red Cross and the RNLI.”

Nathan Timbrell, with 2 year old Shay meeting PCSO Tracy Wren and Colin the Crocodile Copper.

Longlevens resident Vanessa Rose says; “I’ve been to lots of fire station open days and this was the best yet. There was lots of interaction and it exceeded my expectations. The kids loved it.”

Phillip Marshall of Linden added; “Everything seen today reinforced good safety messages for the kids. If you tell them as parents they don’t listen but learning from the people here at SkillZONE really brings it home. It’s been awesome.”

Hundreds of visitors took up the chance to try out SkillZONE’s innovative safety village and 130 children were given out goodie bags for completing the robot treasure hunt.

Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership provided The Bike hub with Gloucester Bike Project offering free safety checks and tune ups, a pedal powered smoothie maker and 7-11 year old children took part in the off-road bike handling skills activity. Go karts were also run by Cirkitz International and Kwik Fit, giving users a chance to find out how dangerous it is to drive under the influence by wearing special beer goggles.

In the afternoon fire truck demonstrations kept crowds entertained and dancers from Linda Virgoe Dance Academy performed their modern, jazz and ballet routine.