An annual event that delivers important safety and social awareness lessons to primary school children has received financial support from a Shropshire building company.

Pave Aways has donated £1,000 to the charity that runs Crucial Crew a ten-day safety event, which is attended by 1,500 11-year-olds from up to 50 local primary schools each year.

This year’s event will be held at the Nesscliffe Military Training Camp near Pave Aways’ Shropshire headquarters at Knockin in June after an absence of two years due to the covid pandemic. Pave Aways has a strong association with the camp as it is where it carried out its first contract in 1973 and where it built a £4m state-of-the-art kitchen and dining facility in 2019.

Children from more than 50 schools will take part in safety presentations and scenarios delivered by organisations such as the police, fire service and specialists in sectors like rail, road and water safety on subjects ranging from internet safety to drug and alcohol awareness and emergency planning.

Crucial Crew is a registered charity, organised by a team of unpaid volunteers, and Pave Aways’ donation will go towards the event’s substantial running costs

Geof Proffitt, Deputy chairman and trustee fundraiser, said: “While our costs are currently under control, we know that the cost of transporting children from 50 schools to Nesscliffe will increase as will other event costs, so Pave Aways’ contribution is most timely.

“The support of organisations like Pave Aways is, excuse the pun, crucial to the successful operation of the event and we are extremely grateful for its unsolicited support.”

Crucial Crew has been running for 27 years during which time more than 31,100 children have attended.

Pave Aways’ Managing Director Steven Owen said: “Supporting the communities where we live and work is a key pillar of our ethos as a company. As a stand alone event, Crucial Crew reaches so many children with important life lessons, it’s imperative that it continues to run each year.

“Many of our team have had children who attended Crucial Crew and even some of our younger staff will have been themselves, so we are delighted to be able to help with a donation.”