‘Puppet show’ is dead serious

A hard-hitting puppet show is helping drive home road safety messages to young people in Ballymena.
NRC Travel & Tourism students Jucyta, Kladuia, Ebyta and Patricia who attended last week's Routes Road Safety Roadshow, which was held in conjunction with Michelin, are seen here with puppet characters Shifty and Bez Included is Student Liaison Officer  Lesley Anne Beacom and Steve from Routes Road Safety. INBT 41-101JCNRC Travel & Tourism students Jucyta, Kladuia, Ebyta and Patricia who attended last week's Routes Road Safety Roadshow, which was held in conjunction with Michelin, are seen here with puppet characters Shifty and Bez Included is Student Liaison Officer  Lesley Anne Beacom and Steve from Routes Road Safety. INBT 41-101JC
NRC Travel & Tourism students Jucyta, Kladuia, Ebyta and Patricia who attended last week's Routes Road Safety Roadshow, which was held in conjunction with Michelin, are seen here with puppet characters Shifty and Bez Included is Student Liaison Officer Lesley Anne Beacom and Steve from Routes Road Safety. INBT 41-101JC

Michelin co-ordinated a workshop at the Northern Regional College, Trostan Avenue and Farm Lodge campus, which was performed by expert puppeteer Steve Wright. Steve presented his Theatre in Education show Routes – the Teenage Highway Code, telling the real stories of young people whose lives have been affected by dangerous driving.

Kathy Simpson, Factory Personnel Manager at Michelin Ballymena, said: “Steve puts on a fantastic and moving show. Within minutes students are completely engaged by characters they can relate to and stories that really hit home.

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Young drivers are the most at-risk age group on the roads, and we feel it’s important that private companies take steps to keep teenagers in Northern Ireland safe as they begin to take to the roads themselves.”

During the week, Michelin will also be presenting the show to pupils and young drivers at Ballymena Academy, St Killian’s College and St Louis Grammar School and has previously presented it to six other schools in the Ballymena area.

The event was held as part of Michelin’s Corporate Social Responsibility charter, known as Performance and Responsibility Michelin (PRM). As part of the PRM initiative, which has been running for a decade, the company has supported many worthwhile projects in and around its manufacturing operations in Ballymena, as well as its factories in Dundee and Stoke.