Tufty Bits

We were taught at a very early age how to safely cross the road. It was evidently not as simple as that.

School crossing patrols which had only been used experimentally and operated by the Police since the late 1930's were officially adopted in 1953.

It took another couple of years for the distinctive "children crossing" signs or lollipop to become part of early years and later school days and very much now a part of the usual street furniture.

The highest risk group of children was seen to be those of pre-school age and in 1952 The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) founded the Teddy Club for the under sixes and the Lookout Club for older children (1953). This latter target group were introduced to the motto "always alert", probably meant to allude to "all-ways alert".

Another venture by RoSPA, after concerns over the potential conflict between children and an ever increasing volume of traffic on the nation's roads in the boom economy of the post war era. was the Tufty Club, a slick and professional operation compared to the previous efforts.

I am proud to have been a member of the Tufty Club, the phenomenally successful initiative for road safety launched in 1961 for the under fives age group.

In its first year the Tufty Club was joined by 35,000 children.

In a franchise type arrangement the Tufty squirrel character was featured on greetings cards, toothbrushes, card games, handkerchiefs, jigsaws and many other promotional items.

I was drawn into the merchandising being the proud owner of a Tufty Club pin badge which I seem to recall was given out as part of an educational programme at my own school.

In its efforts to educate pre-school children RoSPA especially tried to persuade women to carry the message. This was mainly through an encouragement for mothers to read the Tufty Club literature to their children.

The Best selling Tufty Books by the author Elsie B Mills reinforced the gender division with male role models in the form of Mr Wise Owl and Dr White Rabbit but with Tufty always making sure that his mummy was with him when he crossed the road.

The message was perhaps one of the first to use the power of marketing after many previous,
quite haphazard and amateurish attempts.

Such was the enduring and interesting cloaking of a simple set of guidance that even now, nearly half a century after being a member of the Tufty Club I can still remember the mantra of;

"At the kerb-Halt",
"Look Right, Look Left",
"Look Right Again",
and then "If all clear- quick march".

The campaign proved to be most lucrative for RoSPA and contributed to the ability of the organisation to fund and greatly reduce the danger imposed to young children in crossing the road.