Look After Your Head Campaign at Center Parcs

27 May 2009

During the busy May Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May, the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) were encouraging holiday makers at Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, to look after their heads by wearing cycle helmets when riding their bikes.

During a holiday at Center Parcs in February, Elizabeth McAndrew, Community Support Manager at BIRT, noticed that people weren’t wearing cycle helmets when they were riding the bikes rented out by Center Parcs. Center Parcs hire out 4,500 bikes at each of their four centres across the UK but it is not mandatory for children or cyclists to wear protective head gear.

Whilst BIRT recognise that wearing a cycle helmet isn't mandatory, it is encouraged by the BMA. It is also supported by research by The Bicycle Initiative Trust who says that helmets can reduce the risk of injury by 85% and that 85% of accidents happen off-road.

Elizabeth did some research into how many accidents happen when people are riding off road, and found that more than 20% of children admitted to A&E are due to them having accidents on their bikes. She approached Center Parcs about having a stand at one of their facilities to educate people on the importance of wearing a helmet and was invited to go to their Sherwood Forest facility on the May bank holiday weekend.

It was wonderful that a number of our Service Users who were kind enough to agree to have their photographs taken could attend.

BIRT positioned their stand by the Cycle Centre and later by the Jardin des Sports and had a very successful weekend. Center Parcs only had 200 helmets for hire at their Sherwood Forest location but some people decided to buy helmets as a direct result of BIRT’s stand and Center Parcs noticed sales of helmets go up that weekend. Elizabeth put together a questionnaire to find out the reasons why people aren’t wearing helmets and got responses from 114 people over the weekend.

The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) started its fourth annual Look After Your Head campaign during Brain Injury Awareness Week (11-17 May 2009). The campaign is geared at educating children and teenagers about the importance of looking after their heads and aims to teach them about the causes and effects of brain injury. BIRT is aiming to get 10,000 teenagers to sign up online to the campaign between 1 May and 30 June at www.birt.co.uk/3T.

Mike Oddy, Director of Clinical Services, BIRT said:
“The campaign is specifically geared at educating children about the need to wear helmets and behave in a safe manner. Although it is primarily focusing on bikes, it extends to other activities like horse riding, skateboarding and roller blading. Every year, 84,000 children between five and 11 suffer a head injury. Some are very serious and have devastating consequences on a child and impact on their life. While a helmet might not prevent an injury, it may well reduce the severity.”

World and Olympic Champion track cycling Rebecca Romero MBE, supports the campaign “Wearing a helmet is such a simple action to take to protect yourself. I never get on my bike without a helmet on. Make sure you look after your head too. After all, it’s where you create those amazing dreams like I had of becoming Olympic Champion.”

The Look After Your Head Campaign is supported by The British Medical Association, the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust and the Motor Accident Solicitors Society.

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