Louth & Horncastle MP's visit to LIVES and Banovallum School

MP Victoria Atkins with LIVES First Responders.

Louth & Horncastle Victoria Atkins has paid visits to a Horncastle school and vital charity to hear how the organisations are supporting our youngsters and responding to the county’s emergencies.

During her visit to Banovallum School, Ms Atkins shared her experience of working at Westminster with pupils and met Year 10 students, Acting Head Teacher Jenny Kirkwood, and leaders of the Horncastle Education Trust to talk about her career and find out more about the school and the trust.

As well as sharing their experiences of studying at Banovallum School, the students also told Ms Atkins about their achievements, both in their curricular and extra-curricular endeavours, and their ambitions to step into student leadership as prefects.

Mrs Kirkwood said: “It was superb to see our young people getting involved with the visit as they welcomed Ms Atkins to our school community.

Victoria Atkins MP (centre) with Banovallum's Jenny Kirkwood, Rebecca Nathan, Sandra James, and Damien Davey. Photo: Liv Summers

“They spoke with pride about their school and shared valuable insights into the experiences of young people in our setting. They also spoke of their ambitions for the future and were keen to listen and gather insight and advice from their MP. I was thrilled that our students could be a part of the visit.”

During the visit, Sandra James, Chief Executive Officer of the Horncastle Education Trust, shared her direction for the trust and Ms Atkins also heard from trust leaders about some of the exciting projects in the pipeline.

"It was a pleasure to meet Ms Atkins again and welcome her to another of our trust schools,”

said Mrs James,” “We were delighted to have the opportunity to share our strategic vision for the trust,

including plans for some high-profile projects which will benefit our young people and the local community.

“As always, I was proud of our students who were interested to hear from Ms Atkins about her career path as they embark on their first steps into leadership with applications for the role of prefects. I look forward to seeing them as role models in Year 11!”

Gifted photographer 15-year-old Liv Summers was chosen to make a lasting record of the

visit.

Reflecting on her visit to the school, Ms Atkins said: “It was fantastic to be at the Banovallum School in Horncastle. It was great to meet some of the staff and students and to hear about the exciting projects they have coming up this year.

“I also really appreciated this opportunity to discuss with the Horncastle Education Trust’s leadership team their visions for the future.

“I’d like to thank the wonderful staff and students for having me!”

Ms Atkins also recently visited LIVES at their base in Horncastle to see the charity’s hard work, ensuring that any individual who suffers a 999 medical emergency in Lincolnshire can be assured that they are surrounded by the best rapid response care available.

During the visit, Ms Atkins met chief executive Nikki Cooke and discussed a number of the innovative initiatives the charity is currently undertaking, as well as their plans to open a new base and their future Community Strategy, which is based on the charity's belief that everyone should have the opportunity to learn life saving first aid.

They aim to achieve this through developing high quality, knowledge-based training programmes that provide life-long first aid training for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly; to provide people with the skills and confidence needed to provide lifesaving first aid in an emergency.

Ms Atkins also committed to supporting the charity in developing this important scheme and has invited LIVES to Parliament to discuss this further with other Lincolnshire MPs.

Ms Atkins was shown one of the charity’s lifesaving Critical Care Cars, which allow Critical Care Doctors and Critical Care Paramedics to respond on the road in serious medical emergencies when there isn’t time to reach the nearest trauma centre.

Victoria Atkins MP said: “LIVES is a truly inspiring charity that make a lifesaving difference to local people. I can't count the number of constituents who have been in touch with me over the years praising their incredible work.

“It was fantastic to hear more about their current initiatives and exciting plans for their new site. It was particularly interesting to learn about the work that their critical care teams are able to assist with in the most serious emergencies.

“I would like to thank Nikki Cooke, the LIVES CEO for showing me around and all of the staff and volunteers for the incredible work they do to help people across Lincolnshire. I look forward to welcoming LIVES to the House of Commons in the near future to discuss rolling out their future Community Strategy across the county.’

Nikki Cooke said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Victoria to our HQ in Horncastle and be able to share the work of our LIVES responders.

“Many people aren’t aware of the wide variety of skills that responders have and we’re glad that Victoria enjoyed learning about the work of our volunteers who respond to critical emergencies in our Medic 50 car.

“We’re grateful for Victoria’s support in helping us to develop our community education programmes for Lincolnshire to make sure that everyone who lives, works or visits our county has access to a swift response in a life-threatening emergency.”