Blue Islands has provided 820 high-visibility vests to Guernsey school children.

Blue Islands CEO Rob Veron said he hoped providing the vests would allow children to enjoy time safely outdoors during the winter months.

For Blue Islands, safety has been and will always be our number one priority. With the nights closing in, we know the opportunities for children to safely enjoy the great outdoors will get less and less over the coming months, and we wanted to do everything possible to allow them to safely be outside as much as they can.

By giving them directly to schools we can ensure they will be regularly used, the children can gain the maximum benefit, and it will encourage them to remember the vital message Be Safe, Be Seen.

Primary schools across the island were contacted by Education, Sport & Culture, each requesting what size vests they needed, so each one provided will be useful.

Education’s Lifelong Learning Manager Alun Williams said:

We are really grateful to receive this support from Blue Islands. We are very keen to help young people and their families to get out and about and to be more active but we know that it is very important that we do this in a sensible fashion. Giving children high visibility vests will mean they remain safe during our dark nights.

The initiative was launched alongside pedestrian safety group, Living Streets. Chairman Tom Le Pelley was grateful for the huge support from the airline.

Living Streets is very pleased to be working with Blue Islands to promote the Be Safe, Be Seen message during Road Safety Week. Encouraging children to brighten up at night by wearing high visibility vests will, hopefully, ensure the habit continues into adulthood. Guernsey's narrow roads can be very dangerous for those on foot or on bikes after dark - and particularly on dark rainy nights. The reflective strips on a high visibility vest can be seen in a driver's headlights three times as far away as non-reflective material.

Mr Veron added:

Blue Islands is proud to support health and wellbeing across the island, and we look forward to seeing the children out and about in the high visibility vests we provided.