The Churchill Lollipopper Fund

I spent the first eight years of my life living in South East London. We then moved to West Wales were I have pretty much lived ever since apart from my five years in South Wales. I’ve been talking to the children about things I did as a child recently and it made me realise how different some of the things I did were compared to things I do with my children. In particular I was in Primary school in London we used to have a Lollipop lady who would help us cross the road safely.

I’ve many memories of the lollipop lady greeting us each morning and wishing us happy birthday etc. The lollipop lady was someone I knew she was there to help us. We were lucky enough to only have to cross two roads to the school in London too which made a difference. Then when we moved to West Wales we had slightly further to walk with three roads to cross. The Second road has a pedestrian crossing though then again we had a lollipop lady who would help us cross over next the school. Now my children attend my old primary school in West Wales but things have changed. Sadly we no longer have a lollipop lady and the amount of traffic near the school has increased.

In addition to this we live slightly further away from where I did as a child, it’s only two streets further away but it means there is now seven roads to cross along the direct route or five if you take a non-direct route. I have to admit this means we do tend to take the car to school more often than not. Especially if I have to be home by 9am for little ones arriving. However on days when I don’t need to be home by 9am and it is dry we do try to walk. For the last six months Luc has walked to school on his own or with friends as the secondary school is closer to us than the Primary School. But on days when we walk I drive to the Rugby Club two streets away and we all walk from there, dropping Luc off at his school as we pass. From there we have to cross a side street to the pedestrian crossing on the main road. We then walk down to the end of the pavement where we turn into the street where the school is at the bottom. We then have to cross another street before we reach the school with two smaller crossings before the actually school gates, one into a private car park and another into the school grounds where the staff park. So there is a lot of traffic going in and out around the school. With a public car park and our local Swimming pool right next to the school. The school buses also come and park just down from the school which adds to the traffic. Below you can see our walk to school.

Trystan has recently started asking me if he can walk to school on his own but so far I don’t feel comfortable. Mainly due to the fact there are two very busy roads to cross between us and the school. As a compromise I do let him walk ahead of us to school once we have crossed the main road with the pedestrian crossing. Sadly our school lost it’s lollipop lady over ten years ago which I think is really sad, they make a huge difference to both children and their families when walking to school and I feel they are invaluable. I think if we still had a lollipop lady then I would reconsider letting Trystan walking to school alone.

Who are Churchill ?

Churchill Insurance (www.churchill.com) was among one of the UK’s first direct motor insurers. In 1990, they started selling home insurance and, over the years, have extended their services, now offering car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance, breakdown cover and van insurance.

They are a UK-based company and sell insurance policies by phone and on the internet.

In a world full of change, their dedication to customer service remains. A place where there’s always time to chat to Churchill, your dependable friend.

So when I found out Churchill are trying to help 50 schools fund lollipoppers I had to get behind this great campaign. So what is the Churchill Lollipoppers Fund?

There are thankfully more than 20,000 lollipop men and women who help keep our kids safe across Great Britain.

However, the number of these amazing ‘Lollipoppers’ on our roads is beginning to dwindle, with Churchill Insurance’s research (see below) showing that nearly a third of parents are aware of a Lollipopper being removed from their local area with no suitable replacement.

Churchill want to help redress the balance and make this safeguard around our nation’s schools stronger than ever by giving funding to 50 schools to have their own Lollipopper.

Sounds good right, well all you need to do to nominate your school is visit the Lollipoppers Nomination page here. I will certainly be nominating our local Primary School.

Churchill have carried out some research into Lollipoppers and here are some of their findings:

95 per cent of parents and 88 per cent of children (aged 5 – 11) feel safer knowing there is a Lollipopper present on their route to school
91 per cent of parents see a Lollipopper as being safer than a zebra or pedestrian crossing
Following UK legislation in 2000 stating that lollipoppers were no longer a legal requirement for schools, an increasing number of the iconic lollipop men and women have been taken off the road in recent years. One-third (32 per cent) of parents went on to reveal that a lollipopper had recently been removed from their local area with a further 61 per cent stating no crossing alternative had been put in place.

You can find more of the research findings here

You can also join in the discussion at Mumsnet where you’ll find topics from Teaching your children about road safety to ideas for teacher’s gifts. You can find the discussion here But remember to go and nominate your school for the Churchill Lollipopper fund.