Volunteers who help out at festivals and events in Pembrokeshire are being offered free training so that they can be more effective as stewards to ensure their event runs smoothly in 2007. PLANED, Pembrokeshire Local Action Network for Enterprise and Development, are running a training course in January for the volunteers who give up their time to act as stewards at events throughout the county. The course includes roles and responsibilities of stewards, health and safety, and traffic and crowd management. "Stewards are the backbone of any successful event," said Sarah Oliver, of the county council's licensing department, "and without good, well- briefed stewards, events do not run well." The course, of two sessions over two weeks, follows the successful pilot run earlier this year for stewards at the Celtic Blue Rock Festival, and in partnership with the county council's licensing department and Dyfed Powys Police. Steward training can be tailored to specific groups of volunteers, for example agricultural shows, music festivals etc. PLANED will also be organising another festival and event training course for anyone involved with events, with sessions on risk assessment, event planning, funding, licensing and publicity. Each session is led by an expert in their field and participants receive a copy of PLANED's 'Organising Community Events and Festivals'. PLANED's support for festivals and events is funded through the EU LEADER+ programme which is part- funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, and Milford Haven Port Authority. For further information on any of this, please contact Kate Lindley, tel. 01834 862 109.