AN AUSTRALIAN newspaper has launched a life-saving drive – using The Press’s Think Don’t Swim campaign for inspiration.

Angie Simms, pictorial editor at the Maroochy Journal, in Queensland, contacted The Press to say our emotive eight-minute campaign film aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of York’s rivers, had inspired her paper to produce one of its own.

She said the newspaper had launched a Staying Alive campaign attempting to get the Government to review the laws in regards to motorcycle licensing following a string of young motorcyclist deaths.

They and had come across our video on YouTube, inspiring the newspaper to make a film of their own.

The Press’s dramatisation was created by York filmmaker Christopher David of Flash Frame Productions.

He said: “I think it’s amazing that our film has been seen at the other side of the world - and it’s intensely gratifying that it should have sparked another – equally significant – campaign. I wish it every success.

“This is an example of the global community and how we can use the technologies at our disposal for good and it also shows how local newspapers, both in the UK and abroad, have a significant and far-reaching impact on our communities.

“When many national newspapers are faltering under the strain and scrutiny of corruption, local newspapers are delivering, campaigning and changing lives.”

The Press launched its campaign after 21-year-old York bartender Richard Horrocks drowned after jumping in the Ouse from a balcony.

The film features emotional interviews with his mother and sister, a former coroner’s officer and a diving expert, along with a fictional dramatisation about a young man who drowns after deciding to go skinny dipping in the river.

It is part of a wider campaign which aims to prevent further tragedies by raising awareness of the dangers of jumping or falling in the water.