VENTRILOQUISM may be more Music Hall than School Hall − but West Midlands Police has found the ideal voice to deliver lessons in safety and well-being to pupils in the form of Police Chaplain and part-time puppeteer Peter Green, alongside sidekick ‘Alfred’.

And Alfred is certainly no dummy! Because whilst the thought of performing before bustling classes of 5 to 11-year-olds may render some speechless, Alfred relishes the chance to lead assemblies that explore some of the most delicate police issues. Abuse, racism, bullying, ‘stranger danger’ and drugs are just some of the topics the duo has discussed with their young audiences. And though Alfred & Peter may struggle to score four yeses on the Britain’s Got Talent stage, pupils are united in acclaiming “we don’t like it…we love it”!

But last week they rolled back the years with a personal appearance at Parkfield School, Alum Rock, and an assembly on racism. Head teacher Hazel Pulley, said: “We find the talks delivered by Peter really resonate with the pupils…puppets bring the subjects to life in a child-friendly way and they seem to remember the messages long after Alfred has left the building! It’s a great way of discussing important, difficult subjects with youngsters.”

Peter & Alfred’s 10th and latest programme focuses on child safety around dogs and saw the duo film not only at West Midlands Police’s dog training centre in Solihull but also with dog handlers in Poland! That’s because, bizarrely, Alfred became a big hit on children’s television in Poland and appeared regularly on Pomerania TV, a regional station covering a large area of the country.

With the ongoing growth and expansion of our ministry and the Alfred Programme we have just signed a contract with a local Christian Design Group to produce a rebranding/design of our corporate image; web-sites; exhibition stand etc. This decision is obviously quite timely considering the developments during the last two weeks; when our West Midlands Police Press & PR Department decided that it would be a good idea to put out a Press Release publicising the Programme. This led to reporters from the Birmingham Mail & ITV Central news turning up to cover a School Assembly I was taking in Birmingham last Friday, resulting in a photo/article in Saturday’s Birmingham Mail and an excellent presentation on tonight’s ITV evening news. Combined with this, the Official West Midlands Police Website published a special Press Release.