Friday, 17 October, saw our Crewe ‘Crucial Crew’ event draw to a close. Held again this year at Crewe Alexandra Football Club’s Mornflake Stadium, the event played host to approximately 1,200 pupils from local schools giving them the opportunity to participate in a number of interactive safety workshops. These Year 6 children are at an important stage in their lives as they prepare to transition from primary to secondary school.
The workshops were presented by Cheshire Police, CGL – Cheshire East (Young Persons Substance Misuse Service), Cheshire East Family Hubs, 0 – 19 School Nursing Cheshire East, SP Energy Networks and Cheshire East Waste and Recycling Engagement team who covered a range of topics designed to help the pupils to stay safe in the future.
A VIP Day was held on Tuesday, 14 October 2025 when children from Scholar Green Primary School, Woodcocks’ Well CE Primary School and Alsager Highfields Community Primary School joined us to showcase the event. On the day, we were honoured to welcome High Sheriff, Joelle Warren MBE DL & consort, Andrew Warren; The Mayor of Crewe, Councillor Sally Graham; Matt Balmforth, BAE Systems – Radway Green; Hannah Gayle, Cheshire East Commissioning Manager & colleague, Jade Fox; Mark Watson MBE, Co-ordinator of Cheshire Crimebeat and Chief Inspector Andrew Baker & Inspector Josh Jones, Crewe Local Policing Unit, Cheshire Constabulary.
Thanks as always to everyone who worked so hard to make the event a great success. We would like to thank Crewe Town Council for their continued support and special thanks must go to Tia Hickson, Hospitality and Events Manager at Crewe Alexandra Football Club, who made us all very welcome. In particular though, we would like to thank our main sponsor, BAE Systems, for their kind sponsorship and for making the event possible again.
Matt Balmforth from BAE Systems said, “We are proud to support the Crucial Crew programme – an invaluable initiative dedicated to keeping our young people safe. At BAE Systems, safety is our number one priority – not only for our employees but also for the communities in which we operate. Partnering with Crucial Crew allows us to make a meaningful contribution to community wellbeing and to help protect the next generation of employees, who will lead our Company for generations to come.”
Each child that attended Crucial Crewe this year will receive a copy of our ‘Junior Life Skills’ handbook thanks to the generous support of BAE Systems.