Water safetycampaign is ledby life-savers

Now the Royal Life Saving Society is stepping up its awareness campaign announcing this week that it has created four new roles to reach deeper into communities to combat drowning and save lives.

Di Steer, from the charity, said: “Drowning is a serious social issue.

“One way to prevent it is to educate at a local level and the new Community Drowning Prevention Co-ordinators will cover the UK and Ireland to do this, working alongside the charity’s 10,000 volunteers.

“In their unique roles, our Community Drowning Prevention Co-ordinators will strive to work with and serve communities at a local level to drive home our water safety messages and education.

“This proactive approach will complement our work with other national and local organisations in the effort to save as many lives as possible – one more accidental drowning is one too many.”

The move follows a year of campaigning by the RLSS UK, resulting in an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for water safety and drowning prevention.

Karen Lumley MP is vice-chair of the APPG and has been working with RLSS UK since teenager Richard Fellows tragically drowned in her Redditch constituency last year.

“The news that the RLSS UK has further shown its dedication to educating everyone in water safety with the announcement of four new RLSS UK Community Drowning Prevention Co-ordinators is fantastic.

“These roles will mean the charity’s messages reach into communities further and I believe the move will make a real difference in its aim of reducing the number of people who lose their lives to drowning each year.”

For more information on the Community Drowning Prevention Co-ordinators visit www.rlss.org.uk.