Thank you to everyone who came to our Open Day

Last weekend (14 / 15 September), together with Avon Fire & Rescue, we hosted our first Open Day event since 2019, and what a day it was. Thousands of you took time out of your weekend to come to our headquarters in Portishead for a look behind the scenes, to see how our different teams work and watch our displays.

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to our Open Day and thank you to all of our staff and officers who worked tirelessly to ensure that the day ran smoothly.

With the site prepped, rehearsals completed, coffee brewing, and the sun shining we were ready to welcome visitors on Saturday morning. Thousands of visitors steadily trickled into HQ and made their way around vehicle, technology and equipment displays, where there was everything from the latest police cars to vintage fire engines, along with boats and even a hovercraft.

Staff and officers from the many teams in our police and fire service had set up stands and were on hand to talk to visitors and answer any questions they had. This included everything from Crime Scene Investigators showing people how to dust for fingerprints, to displays from our drone team (who also doubled as a second unit camera crew on the day).

In the show ring, our mounted section (horse team) gave displays on how they respond to incidents such as public disorder. The police dogs showed how they take down escaping criminals and search for contraband, while the fire dogs gave a demonstration on how they find missing people.

Retired police and fire officers enjoyed recounting stories from days gone by, alongside displays of vintage uniforms and equipment in the living history zone.

Our specially trained public order officers gave a fiery display to demonstrate how they respond to public disorder incidents and the Firefighters demonstrated rescuing people that are trapped in vehicles following a collision.

We were grateful to Young CPT (Creative Power Town) for running a stand about stop and search, creating an interactive quiz that allowed people to understand more about their rights when it comes to stop and search.

All in all, it was an action-packed day and it was great to see so many smiling faces.  Thank you to everyone who came and we look forward to welcoming you again next time.