Blue Light festival pays tribute to 999 heroes
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EMERGENCY heroes will be honoured at the third Moray Blue Light Festival on Saturday (June 24).
The valuable role played by the police, fire, RAF, coastguard services and many more will be highlighted during the festival from 12pm-3pm at the Alexander Graham Bell Centre, UHI Moray in Elgin.
The event was initially held in 2019 and organised by students on UHI Moray’s events management course.
The event was successfully brought back after the pandemic last year and is now organised by UHI Moray with the now graduated students still being involved in the planning and on the day.
One of them, Lorna Leil, Events Co-ordinator for UHI Moray, said: "'Celebrating the services, educating the public’ is the theme of the afternoon. This is a chance to meet your real-life heroes and see what they do on a daily basis.
“We are hoping to raise awareness of the services and also bring the local community together to celebrate them.”
As well as the well-known 999 services, in attendance will be North East Rider Volunteers, 2622 Squadron from RAF Lossiemouth, Scottish Charity Air Ambulance, Cadets and local organisations who offer help and support such as Moray Wellbeing Hub, Moray Co-Responders, Car Seat Safety Moray, Keirans Legacy and many more.
Basic CPR will be taught by SAS Wildcat and Save A Life Scotland throughout the day.
There will be children's inflatables and rides, facepainting some child friendly vendors and a huge array of food stands.
UHI Moray’s hospitality and tourism academy will be providing cupcakes for people to decorate, and Fika Child and Family Centre will be running two Moo Music sessions.
“The previous two events were very successful, with around 1500 people attending last year,” added Lorna.
“Sirens were ringing around the car park as youngsters were allowed to experience the inside of the emergency vehicles – including being locked in the back of a police van.”
The services who appeared in previous years are eager to return and get involved with the public again.
A previous exhibitor at both events, North East Rider volunteer, Patrick
Costello, said: “The event was amazing. I don’t think we expected this amount of interest.”
He said the opportunity for the group to raise awareness was invaluable.
For more information and updates, search for Moray Blue Light Festival on Facebook or Instagram, or email AGBCevent.moray@uhi.ac.uk
