An activity book designed by Dumfries and Galloway College students to support local children in traumatic situations has been launched.
Students from the college worked in partnership with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service to produce the activity book, which will be used in situations such as at road traffic collisions, in hospital waiting rooms, and police stations.
The HND Visual Communication (Graphic Design with Moving Image) students were commissioned by the public services to produce the book and approached by Sergeant Michael McCaughey and Constable Kerry Bowie from Police Scotland, who asked for an activity book they could use across the Dumfries and Galloway area.
Working from a live brief is an integral experience for students on the course and creating the book gave the students involved the valuable opportunity to put those skills into practice.
Their finished product will be used alongside the existing comfort teddies initiative, which provides handmade soft toys to distract children under challenging and difficult circumstances.
The launch event was held at the fire station on Brooms Road in Dumfries and was attended by staff and students from the college.
Also present to celebrate the launch of the book were pupils from St Michael’s and St Andrew’s primary schools and representatives from Children First, Queen of the South FC, Annan Athletic, Stranraer FC, the NHS Children’s Ward in Dumfries, and Alba Printers, who were responsible for printing the book.
Crayons and other materials for the event were also kindly donated by the branch of Tesco at Cuckoo Bridge in Dumfries.
Attendees also enjoyed meeting crews from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland, and the Scottish Ambulance Service who were present to show the children around some of the vehicles they use in their vital work and also to provide them with a copy of the book to take home with them.
The launch event received highly positive feedback and represents Dumfries and Galloway College’s continued commitment to working with stakeholders across the region to make a positive contribution to life in the South of Scotland.
Dumfries and Galloway College Principal, Joanna Campbell, said:
“As a college, we are incredibly proud of all our students who have worked so hard on this incredibly worthy project.
“To know that children and young people will receive some comfort during incredibly difficult circumstances and that our students gained valuable practical experience in their chosen field to make it happen is wonderful.
“We’re committed to working with our partners on this initiative and are delighted to see our partnership produce such excellent results that will benefit our community.”
Sergeant Michael McCaughey, Community Policing Sergeant from Police Scotland, said:
“In the very beginning, we had a vision to come up with an activity book which the emergency services could use in tandem with the ‘comfort teddies’.
“With this vision we approached Dumfries and Galloway College, to whom we pitched our idea, and over the following months we had the privilege of meeting with the students to produce this brilliant activity book.
“These students have given up their own time, as well as study time, to do something special for the young children in our communities and we’re all very grateful to them for doing so.”