COLUMNIST
This month MARTIN DOREY is talking about beach safety and the army of Nippers who have got your back
I want to talk about beach safety. Don’t panic. It’s not going to be a lecture about swimming between the red and yellow flags or how to save yourself from a rip at the beach (FYI: swim perpendicular to it). No, this month I am going to heap some praise on a bunch of people who give their time week in, week out, to make the beaches of the UK safer for all of us.
The Surf Life Saving movement has been going strong since its inception in Bondi, Australia, in 1907. It came to the UK in 1953, with a number of clubs set up by Alan Kennedy, a travelling Aussie. My club, Bude Surf Life Saving Club, was the first. This year we will be celebrating our 70th birthday (hooray).
“Big deal,” you might say, “it’s just a bunch of wannabe rippers parading around in funny hats.” Well, maybe, but also, no. Surf Life Saving GB is a search and rescue charity with around 8,500 members and is the awarding body for the highest beach lifeguard qualification in the UK. Each year hundreds of new life savers become qualified thanks to the training provided by SLSGB and at clubs throughout the country.
Many of them, like my daughters, Maggie and Charlie, begin their life saving careers at the age of five or six when their overkeen parents push them into becoming Nippers. They attend beach sessions in the summer and pool sessions in the winter to learn rescue techniques and how to understand the ocean environment, with the ultimate end being to qualify as surf lifeguards at 16.
Along the way they work hard, giving ten years of their time as well as sweat and tears (and sometimes blood) to becoming masters of their art. Their parents often get roped in to help, gaining lifeguard qualifications that enable them to coach and start their own life saving journeys. Over 18s at Bude compete at national and local level and take part in voluntary safety patrols in the summer.
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