Leading regional housbuilder Persimmon Homes has handed over a funding boost to a Shropshire charity that delivers essential life skills to hundreds of primary school children.
The £250 community grant was presented to two of the founder members of Shrewsbury & Oswestry Crucial Crew, chairman Alan Howls and treasurer Bernard Townson.
Handing over the giant cheque on behalf Persimmon Homes North West was Nina Whalley, a sales advisor at the company’s Shrewsbury development at The Shires.
Shrewsbury and Oswestry Crucial Crew hosts a series of special training days over a two week period every June, attended by up to 1,500 children from around 60 different primary schools in the area. The children receive social awareness and safety training as a means of teaching them essential life skills.
The children learn of the dangers of drugs, internet abuse and cyber bullying, stranger danger, the effects of hoax calls etc. As a result of attending, they are more confident in themselves and in a better position to make a positive contribution to their communities as they mature into junior citizens.
This was the 19th year that the event has been held during which time more than 24,000 children have attended. The organisation was granted charity status in 2008.
Crucial Crew fundraiser Geof Profitt said: “We are very grateful to Persimmon Homes for their financial support. Shrewsbury & Oswestry Crucial Crew is funded entirely on grants and donations, and without the support of firms like Persimmon, thousands of children would miss out on these essential life skills.”
David Hodgson, sales and marketing director for Persimmon Homes North West, said: “We are delighted to support the fantastic work of the Shrewsbury and Oswestry Crucial Crew.
“It was a real privilege for Persimmon Homes to visit the Crucial Crew activities at Nesscliffe Army Barracks and see for ourselves the brilliant training activities as they were being delivered.”
The Shires is a development of two, three and four bedroom homes that has seen the successful regeneration of the Ditherington area of Shrewsbury. One of Persimmon’s best-selling sites, just a handful of properties remain.