A huge change from politics following some fantastic husting events last week, saw FUW representatives invited to attend a wonderful resource, Pentre Peryglon / Danger Point in Flintshire. Situated on the site of a former farm, the renovated stone buildings have had numerous functions, but is now home to an activity centre focused on offering children and young people life skills and experiences within different sectors. 

Established 18 years ago with support from North Wales Police, the independent charity centre in Talacre, famous for its Point of Ayre lighthouse, is a great hit! Children, families and schools walk through the state of the art centre stopping by in a life sized kitchen, bedroom, living room, farmyard, a boat at a seaside, a train station, a full sized train carriage, a shop, an outdoor road crossing and an electrical sub-station working through scenarios, interactive activities and games with an adult tour guide. Many of these specialist guides are former teachers. 

A smoke filled room gives youngsters a real life scenario on what should be done in  the event of a fire; role play is a key element when older children are asked to act as shopkeeper and customer wanting to buy vapes at the shop and in the garage what exactly should young children be wary of if they see a skull sign on liquids? The centre is a relevant, vibrant location that informs, guides and empowers children and young people to make good and safe choices in their day to day lives as they mature. 

The FUW representatives were invited to offer our specialist farming insight into the ‘farm and rural’ section of the centre, to give first hand experience and ideas into updating some elements of the 18 year old section. 

Keen to play our part, our discussions turned to safety, machinery, animal behaviour and educating countryside visitors how to behave well in a rural landscape. Danger Point staff were keen to learn from actual real life farmers as we explained that ‘the outdoor play area used by some irresponsible dog owners’ off leads walking haphazardly across livestock filled fields, is actually a busy high risk working site for farmers! 

It was a breath of fresh air to see interested individuals keen to engage and understand more about modern day farming. Their work is fundamentally important as they educate many youngsters, now without the close link of the past to rural life, food production and farm practices. We look forward to working further with Danger Point as we continue our new working relationship.