A group of sessions designed to help school pupils in Oswestry and beyond has wrapped up another fortnight of work as it marks 25 years.

Shrewsbury and Oswestry Crucial Crew, which was founded in 1994, puts on two weeks’ worth of sessions at Nesscliffe Military Training Centre and has helped more than 28,000 Year 6 pupils learn decision-making and lifeskills, as well as social awareness.

Many of this year’s outdoor sessions lined up for the 1,000-plus pupils were ruled out because of the heavy rains.

However, Ian Finch, press officer with Crucial Crew, was delighted with how the two weeks worked and thanked all those who took part in the sessions.

“It went fine – we had rain every day but it didn’t disappoint the kids,” he said.

“The outdoor events were mainly cancelled. We had a lot we wanted to do but because of the rain, we had to move them inside.

“We’ve had experiences where people have been with us and now their kids are coming through with us.

“People will remember us from school – in our 25 years, we’ve had 28,500 kids go through Crucial Crew and this year, we’ve had 1,300 over the two weeks.”

Services involved included West Mercia Police, Shropshire Fire and Rescue, Rotary Clubs including Oswestry and Ellesmere, the RNLI, while Oswestry mayor Councillor John Price and his consort Cllr Joyce Barrow also lent their support. Ian added that the message for Crucial Crew has remained the same over the 25 years, even if the life lessons have changed.

He added: “We would like to thank the army for the use of their buildings for free over the two weeks.

“There’s things we’ve done over the 25 years that don’t work anymore because of the changes in life but we think the message has stayed the same. We like to think what we do helps them make the right decisions and show them what happens when they make the wrong decisions.”

They will also be holding a reunion for any participants or volunteers that have attended Crucial Crew since its inception in 1994.

The event will be at the British Ironworks Centre, near Oswestry, on Saturday, July 20 from 11am until 3pm, and it will be free entry.