25 RNLI Lifeguards, dedicated and full of energy, are ready for the season

These lifeguards have been involved in a two week induction course to prepare them for the many different scenarios they will encounter this summer on the beaches of Camber, Hastings and Bexhill

This training course includes all aspects of safety, health and environment. Not only do the lifeguards need to keep the visitors to the beaches safe, they need to keep themselves safe and the team that they are working with. They study the core lifeguard skills including rescue techniques and casualty care. As lifeguards use a variety of vehicles to aid rescues they undergo craft and vehicle training including how to operate the RWC (Rescue Water Craft) and driving a four-wheel drive vehicle on the beach.

Being fit is an essential part of the training both in the water and on the beach. They have to be able to run 200 metres on sand in under 3 and a half minutes and run 200 metres on sand in under 40 seconds.

In week two they encounter how to deal with mass rescues, CPR and major traumas. They are involved in a three day casualty care course covering injury, illness and immersion. They worked with the coastguards and they train them how to cope with a sand hole collapse and working as a team with the helicopter when it is called to a rescue.

Dominic Richard, RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor, commented, ‘After a lot of hard work planning the induction weeks this year it is great to see our lifeguards taking all the training on board. They are keen to hone up their skills. They have worked intensively and have demonstrated how skilled they are. The teams are ready to keep the beaches safe for the season. Much of our work is preventative so our interaction with the public and reinforcing ways of having fun and being safe, is vital.’

Lifeguard Harry Ames said inductions are a super way to learn new skills and to improve in so many ways. He is looking forward to being an integral part of the team.

This year the team is strong, keen, well trained and are determined that everyone who visits the beach take away only happy memories.

The RNLI advises beachgoers to Respect the Water, know the times of the tides and to keep children within sight. Visitors arriving at the beach can approach the Lifeguards or the Beach Patrols and request a wristband on which will be written a contact telephone number making re-uniting families and children much easier and quicker. Last summer at the weekends there were typically over 40 children each day who had become separated from their families. The RNLI lifeguards and all the other agencies worked tirelessly to make a day at the beach a happy memory and to prevent tragedies occurring.

RNLI Media contacts

• Kt Bruce, Rye Harbour RNLI volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer (07789) 818878 [email protected]

• Paul Dunt, Regional Media Officer (South East), 0207 6207426, 07785 296252 [email protected]

• For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789

RNLI online: For more information on the RNLI please visit https://www.rnli.org

Key facts about the RNLI

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that saves lives at sea. Our volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service in the United Kingdom and Ireland from 237 lifeboat stations, including four along the River Thames and inland lifeboat stations at Loch Ness, Lough Derg, Enniskillen and Lough Ree. Additionally the RNLI has more than 1,000 lifeguards on over 180 beaches around the UK and operates a specialist flood rescue team, which can respond anywhere across the UK and Ireland when inland flooding puts lives at risk.

The RNLI relies on public donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. As a charity it is separate from, but works alongside, government-controlled and funded coastguard services. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824 our lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved at least 140,000 lives. Volunteers make up 95% of the charity, including 4,600 volunteer lifeboat crew members and 3,000 volunteer shore crew. Additionally, tens of thousands of other dedicated volunteers raise funds and awareness, give safety advice, and help in our museums, shops and offices.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 or by email.

The RNLI is a charity registered in England and Wales (209603) and Scotland (SC037736). Charity number 20003326 in the Republic of Ireland.