Post by KG on May 10, 2011 16:29:26 GMT
Seafarers Awareness Week (6-12 June) to Highlight ‘Sea Blindness’
Coordinated by Seafarers UK, the leading maritime welfare charity, Seafarers Awareness Week (6-12 June) aims to highlight ‘sea blindness’, i.e. the widespread public ignorance about the UK’s dependence on seafarers.
Now in its third year, Seafarers Awareness Week is a UK-wide communications campaign. Specially commissioned research among adults and children will reveal how the vital role of seafarers and merchant shipping is overlooked by most landlubbers.
Social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc - is being used to reach a younger audience. Seafarers UK is making a thought-provoking video to reveal how our ‘island nation’ would suffer if food, fuel and goods were not safely delivered everyday by ship.
Triggered by the video, an interactive web TV show will be shown on media websites and there will be live radio interviews around the UK. Print media including national and regional newspapers are also being asked to widen their focus from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines for this week.
Seafarers UK is not alone in seeking to raise awareness of our dependence on seafarers. Beneficiary charities – 70 of which received grants totalling £2.5M last year – are being actively encouraged to coordinate their own promotional activities during Seafarers Awareness Week.
Website: Seafarers Awareness Week
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Media enquiries are handled by Nick Harvey, Seafarers UK Communications and Campaigns Manager, email nick.harvey@seafarers-uk.org, phone 020 7932 5969, mobile 07910 593588.
Notes to editors:
Seafarers Awareness Week is coordinated and promoted by Seafarers UK, the leading charity for our maritime community. Founded in 1917 as King George’s Fund for Sailors, Seafarers UK grant-aids more than 70 charities that help people in need from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy and fishing fleets, and their families/dependants.
K.