A group of volunteers have successfully completed an eight week course on Community Safety Awareness, which was run by the South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership and held within Ayr College South in Girvan.

The Community Safety Partnership is comprised of several agencies, South Ayrshire Council, Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service and NHS Ayrshire and Arran, who work together for the benefit of the people of South Ayrshire. The course was funded by the Partnership using grant money from the Scottish Government.

This is only the second course of its kind to be run in South Ayrshire, and was arranged following the outstanding success of a pilot course run in Ayr in the autumn of 2004.

The course lasted for eight weeks with each class lasting for two hours. Every week a representative from one of the partner agencies focused on practical skills that they felt the class could use either in their paid employment or when working with voluntary organisations.

The course covered the following topics:

• Drugs and alcohol
• Trading Standards and bogus callers
• Dealing with medical emergencies
• Fire safety
• Building safer communities
• Domestic abuse
• Road safety

The course has been designed to give participants a broad understanding of current community safety issues. Each week presentations were given by representatives from different agencies that deliver services in South Ayrshire, these along with practical demonstrations and discussions demonstrated ways in which everyone can help to improve safety in their local community.

Chair of the Community Safety Partnership, Councillor Douglas Campbell, joined the class on their final night, and heard from the participants what they thought about the course and presented them with a certificate to mark their successful completion of the course.

He said: “The class comprised people from various agencies and organisations, all with different experiences both at work and within their personal lives. The course provided a great forum for learning and exchanging views with each other and with the agencies that gave presentations.

“The informal nature of the course, and the experience each participant brought to the class, helped everyone to understand how voluntary organisations and agencies work for the benefit of local communities.

“The agencies addressing the course got an opportunity to explain how their organisation operates, and to hear first hand from members of the public what they think of the service being delivered.”

Councillor Douglas Campbell is pictured with volunteers who successfully completed the Community Safety Course in Girvan.

June 2005