Combining passion for coastal safety - the HM Coastguard station officer behind the 'Wee Guys'
As an agency committed to safety of life at sea, we’re always looking for new ways to get our messages across. One of the most successful - and unusual - ongoing campaigns is led by station officer Kevin Paterson and his team of ‘Wee Guys.’ Kevin Paterson has been talking to Heather Skull about how two of the things he loves - LEGO and HM Coastguard - have been taking social media by storm.
He said: ‘As a child I loved LEGO, but I guess as I grew up, other things took over. But then in 2014, LEGO released a whole range of arctic exploration sets in conjunction with National Geographic Magazine. It had been nearly 20 years since I last purchased any LEGO when I was a child and picked up one of the small sets just on a whim.’
Then Kevin had an idea. What if you could use the LEGO figures to create a team of mini Coastguards, combining the power of social media and the popularity of LEGO to promote coastal safety and the work of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency?
From there the team - known as the ‘Wee Guys’ - was formed and since that moment, they’ve grown in popularity across Facebook and Twitter.
Kevin said: ‘When you’re a Coastguard, you become passionate about its work in saving lives at sea. We know people love going to the coast – we love the coast too – but we know all too well that a great day out can go tragically wrong. I wanted to help by putting out coastal safety
messages in a fun and unique way.
‘The messages cover a range of quite serious subjects including knowing who to phone in a coastal emergency, always wearing a lifejacket when on the water and keeping your dog safe when at the coast to name but a few.’
It might be a fun and light-hearted approach but the Wee Guys continue to grow their audience while getting their message across, three years on from their first tentative steps onto social media.
Kevin still has a massive amount of enthusiasm and gentle humour about the ‘Wee Guys’ - there’s even a press officer called Wee Stef in the team and mini-surveyors, as well as a Coastguard
Rescue Team and a helicopter crew.
He said: ‘There’s been so many highlights over the past three years that it’s hard to pick. I have been extremely fortunate to have made friends with people at the Met Office and the Environment Agency.’
Kevin added: ‘It gives me a chance to use other ways of getting the safety first message out there from a slightly different angle. We want people to just stop and think: Is this a good and safe thing to do?’
The reach has been quite literally been on a global scale with retweets and interactions coming from all across of the globe.
Kevin said he has more plans to use the ‘Wee Guys’ in 2018: ‘I’m constantly planning ahead and looking at new ways and new opportunities to expand the project.’
You can catch up with the ‘Wee Guys’ at facebook.com/coastguardteam and on Twitter @CoastguardTeam.
He said: ‘As a child I loved LEGO, but I guess as I grew up, other things took over. But then in 2014, LEGO released a whole range of arctic exploration sets in conjunction with National Geographic Magazine. It had been nearly 20 years since I last purchased any LEGO when I was a child and picked up one of the small sets just on a whim.’
Then Kevin had an idea. What if you could use the LEGO figures to create a team of mini Coastguards, combining the power of social media and the popularity of LEGO to promote coastal safety and the work of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency?
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| Kevin Paterson with a few of the 'Wee Guys' |
Kevin said: ‘When you’re a Coastguard, you become passionate about its work in saving lives at sea. We know people love going to the coast – we love the coast too – but we know all too well that a great day out can go tragically wrong. I wanted to help by putting out coastal safety
messages in a fun and unique way.
‘The messages cover a range of quite serious subjects including knowing who to phone in a coastal emergency, always wearing a lifejacket when on the water and keeping your dog safe when at the coast to name but a few.’
It might be a fun and light-hearted approach but the Wee Guys continue to grow their audience while getting their message across, three years on from their first tentative steps onto social media.
Kevin still has a massive amount of enthusiasm and gentle humour about the ‘Wee Guys’ - there’s even a press officer called Wee Stef in the team and mini-surveyors, as well as a Coastguard
Rescue Team and a helicopter crew.
He said: ‘There’s been so many highlights over the past three years that it’s hard to pick. I have been extremely fortunate to have made friends with people at the Met Office and the Environment Agency.’
Kevin added: ‘It gives me a chance to use other ways of getting the safety first message out there from a slightly different angle. We want people to just stop and think: Is this a good and safe thing to do?’
The reach has been quite literally been on a global scale with retweets and interactions coming from all across of the globe.
Kevin said he has more plans to use the ‘Wee Guys’ in 2018: ‘I’m constantly planning ahead and looking at new ways and new opportunities to expand the project.’
You can catch up with the ‘Wee Guys’ at facebook.com/coastguardteam and on Twitter @CoastguardTeam.
