Media Release

26.06.07

Art to keep kids safe

As the school year draws to a close and summer holidays stretch out before us, a group of west Belfast children are only too aware of the need to stay safe while enjoying the long summer holidays.

The youngsters, who are members of the Traveller community, will visit the A&E department of the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children on Wednesday (27 June at 4.00pm) to present a health and safety message in the form of a special selection of art work, produced while taking part in the Gayla Expression Arts Programme run by An Munia Tober. Their paintings and photographs highlight potential accident spots for children on a Traveller site.

The novel idea was the brainchild of Eimear Maguire, arts development officer with An Munia Tober. ‘A Traveller site can be a dangerous place for a child and I thought that through art we could raise the children’s awareness of the risks in a fun and creative way.’

‘We are delighted to welcome the children to the Royal,’ says Veronica McEneaney from the department of Health and Social Inequalities in the hospital. ‘Over the last three years the Royal has been running a Traveller Health Outreach project with An Munia Tober, and one of the areas covered was health and safety, so it’s great to see that they understand the importance of staying safe when they are out and about.’

END

Notes

The art work will be presented to Sister Mandy Hawthorne, senior sister in the A&E department and Brenda Creaney, Co-Director for Child Health in the Belfast Trust.

An Munia Tober is a Traveller support group.

For further information please contact:

The Belfast Trust Media Office on 028 9096 0096

Out of Hours telephone 028 9056 5656