Surf Life Saving GB trains and supports volunteers to save lives and prevent drowning in open water through communities of highly trained volunteer lifesavers working to make beaches safer.
In 2021 the charity’s volunteer lifesavers were involved in over 400 safety interventions and saved 96 lives.
Since 2017, the charity’s work has been supported by South West Water with funding for a dedicated staff member promoting safety and the prevention of drowning in open water through education to over 10,000 young individuals between the age of eight and 16.
Starting with knowing how to identify risks to keep themselves safe, progressing to helping others to be safe, the programmes are trained within strict safeguarding protocols, all developed and supported by the funded staff member and other trained club volunteer trainers.
The annual Surf Life Saving GB Championships, which are supported by South West Water, were held at Branksome Chine in Dorset last month. These events compliment the frontline support that South West Water funding enables.
Surf Life Saving GB Chairman, Pete Lawrence, said,
“With the generous funding from South West Water we are now able to ramp up our post-COVID activity to provide more frontline, hands on support for our volunteer life savers with essential training across Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.
Keeping our communities safe, preventing drowning and enabling beach users to enjoy our beautiful coastal areas is our reason to exist and the continuous support of South West Water makes a huge difference by enabling us to do more.”
South West Water’s Director of Environmental Liaison and Culture, Alan Burrows, said:
“The communities we serve are central to everything we do across the region and we are committed to helping our customers and protecting our environment from challenges today and for future generations.
“We are very pleased to be supporting this fantastic charity so they can continue to provide safety, training, fun and mental health benefits to communities across the South West.”