New superhero to keep Northamptonshire safe this summer to be revealed at The Grosvenor Centre

Eight Northampton primary schools were invited to create the mascot for the police, fire service and RNLI's 2019 Summer Safety campaign during visits by officers last month.

The winning sketch will feature across Northamptonshire Police’s summer promotional material, while the artist will receive £100 worth of vouchers to spend at The Entertainer store.

PCSO Naomi Coote of the Northampton neighbourhood policing team, said: “We have been holding assemblies at a number of primary schools in the town over the last couple of weeks with our supporting partner agencies, to help give children summer safety tips, which will hopefully help them have a fun and enjoyable time during the holidays.

“We have also run a poster competition which is being supported by Grosvenor Shopping Northampton and the office of the Northamptonshire police, fire and crime commissioner, asking children to design their own summer safety superhero.

"This is to help encourage them to think about the messages we have delivered and hopefully help other people stay safe ahead of the summer holidays."

The eight primary schools that took part in the competition were: Abington Vale Stirling Campus, Abington Vale Park Campus, Barry Primary, Stimpson Avenue Academy, Kings Heath Primary School, Earl Spencer Primary School, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and St James C of E Primary School.

After an intense judging process, the winning design was chosen and will be revealed on Saturday.

On Saturday, British Transport Police, Network Rail, Northampton Street Pastors, Embrace, Northamptonshire Highways, Trilogy Health & Fitness, Northampton Community Safety Partnership and NHS Northampton will also be at The Grosvenor Centre too.

James Roberts, centre manager at Grosvenor Northampton Shopping, said: “The Summer Safety campaign that Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire office of the police, fire and crime commissioner run is an important scheme and we’re pleased to be holding their event this year to help spread those key messages to the local community.

“The school break is just around the corner and while we’re all hoping for another year of fantastic weather and sunshine, it’s imperative that we’re prepared for it and know the measures that need to be taken to stay safe.

“The superheroes that were submitted by eight of our local primary schools as part of this scheme show that children have taken on board those messages and expressed them in a creative and eye-catching way.

"Picking a winner was really tough – we had a number of fantastic entries – and we can’t wait to show them off on Saturday.”