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Lifeguard operations manager Peter Dawes on the 200 Voices podcast
200 Voices an RNLI podcast

‘We have to look after this precious institution’

Episode 79 – Keeping Watch: Peter Dawes

Since RNLI lifeguards started patrolling in 2001, they’ve saved over 1,900 lives. Peter Dawes explains how he helped them do it.

RNLI lifeguards patrol over 240 beaches around Britain, Ireland and the islands that surround us. But this wasn’t always the case.

The charity’s General Manager for Lifeguard Operations, Peter Dawes, reveals how the service came about, and explains how the RNLI has evolved from a position of importing expertise to exporting it. Many lifeguards work the fabled ‘endless summer’, and it’s not unusual to find an RNLI-trained lifeguard keeping vigil on the other side of the world.

Hear why it’s not always the best swimmer who makes the best lifeguard. And discover how Peter once found himself stranded in a tree over a raging river.

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