Sure has provided mobile phones to The Foundry’s Duke of Edinburgh Award Group for use in emergency situations.
The handsets have been given to students to take on expeditions in case they need to make contact with their supervisor or the emergency services.
The Foundry is a voluntary youth organisation based at Broadway Baptist Church in Douglas which offers local young people the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Bronze, Silver and Gold level Duke of Edinburgh students will have use of the handsets which have been equipped with the Memory Map app. Memory Map works with a phone’s inbuilt GPS capabilities to pinpoint locations which can be shared with other users – in this case the location can be shared with the supervisor.
The first group to take the handsets on an expedition was a Gold level expedition to the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland.
The four day expedition saw eight young people walk from Rostrevor to Newcastle in County Down with three nights of camping on the mountains.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is available to young people aged 14 to 25 and it encourages them to try new activities as well as giving credit for existing interests.
The volunteering, physical and skill sections encourage young people to get out into the community, helping others and taking part in positive activities.
John Harris, Duke of Edinburgh co-ordinator for The Foundry, said: ‘The phones provided by Sure are extremely important for getting in touch with groups of students if there is an emergency situation during an expedition.
‘The phones add an extra level of reassurance for the supervisor that the students can always be contacted.
‘We would like to thank Sure for providing the phones for use by our students.’
Sarah Jarvis, marketing manager at Sure, said: ‘The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an exciting scheme for the island’s young people to get involved in.
‘The expedition element of the award is a fantastic opportunity for the students to go on an adventure; helping build their team work, communication and leadership skills and make some amazing memories. Safety is an extremely important part of the expedition.’