Teams of lifeguards take up posts on Brighton & Hove’s beaches this weekend kicking off the summer season.
TWENTY three new recruits will be joining Brighton & Hove City Council’s seafront team, to help ensure millions of visitors enjoy a safe and happy time on city’s beaches this summer. Many of the lifeguards will be familiar to regular beach goers as they return to the job they enjoyed last year.
The new lifeguards will be patrolling the city’s beaches from the Marina to Hove Lagoon. During the summer holidays, from July 20, lifeguards will be patrolling the beaches at Saltdean, Rottingdean, Ovingdean and further into Hove.
The team of male and female lifeguards, have all successfully completed a beach lifeguard qualification and induction course acquiring a wide range of skills from assessing sea and weather conditions and dealing with beach hazards, to carrying out first aid and water rescues.
Every summer, Brighton & Hove’s lifeguards deal with hundreds of incidents and save many lives.
During last year’s summer season they:
♦ carried out 86 water rescues – around one every five days
♦ saved 24 lives
♦ administered first aid to around 238 beach goers
♦ helped find 226 missing people
♦ tackled 117 incidents of anti-social behaviour
♦ handled 127 wildlife incidents
♦ dealt with 24 mental health incidents
♦ provided 36,101 preventative actions – one every 11 minutes
Easily to spot in their red and yellow uniforms, the lifeguards will be on duty each day from 10am to 7pm, supporting the council’s year round seafront team.
Councillor Alan Robins, Chair of the Tourism, Development and Culture Committee, said: “Once again we are delighted to have recruited a dedicated team of lifeguards to patrol our popular beaches.
“The new lifeguards are committed to supporting our regular seafront officers in ensuring the millions of visitors from all over the world who flock to our beaches every summer return home safe and happy.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.