The British Red Cross has helped to further develop the skills of two community emergency response groups in Lancashire.

Members of the Great Eccleston and Silverdale groups have taken part in a tabletop exercise designed to test and strengthen their current policies and procedures while also looking at areas for future development.

Keith Edge, the British Red Cross’s Emergency Response Officer for Lancashire, led a team of volunteers to both villages to oversee an exercise which presented a series of possible scenarios including a power outage and localised flooding to test current arrangements.

Keith said the exercises proved to be extremely valuable.

He said: “These were extremely useful days which clearly showed the groups’ strengths and also highlighted a few areas where current plans could be modified.

“The local knowledge of those that took part was fantastic and the way the two groups worked so well together was excellent.

“The volunteers on the response groups provide a fantastic service to their villages and it was great to work with them to enhance their learning further and to develop plans that will further increase the resilience of their respective areas and keep their communities safer.’’