Happy to have your lives in their hands

The men and women of Beach Patrol will be watching over swimmers and beach-goers every day this summer from 10am-6pm and with seven lives saved by them last year alone, their important role should not be underestimated.

A mixture of university students and part-timers with other jobs, the team of 14 lifeguards has more than 50 years' experience of the beach at Littlehampton and its own particular currents and dangers.

With qualifications from the Royal Life Saving Society, the lifeguards have all undergone rigorous training in all manner of water safety, life-saving techniques, CPR, life support techniques and incident management.

Qualifications last for two years and then must be re-taken and the team undergo 35 hours of training each year on top of this, so that their skills are always refreshed and up-to-date.

All at the peak of physical fitness, the lifeguards have completed the compulsory 400-metre swim, 16 lengths of Littlehampton swimming pool, in under eight minutes and work hard to keep fit all year round.

It is not just swimmers and boat users getting into trouble who need the help of Beach Patrol. Even for those who choose not to venture into the water, dangers lurk on the beach itself.

Cuts from stones, collapsing diabetics, fires, drunks and even bomb scares were all dealt with by the lifeguards last summer and more of the same is expected this year.

One of the most common situations is a child that has wandered off or gone missing. To combat this perennial problem the lifeguards operate a free wristband tagging system for children and other beach users who may become lost and need assistance.

Wristbands are specific to each groyned section of the beach and are marked with the mobile phone number of a parent or carer so they can be contacted if needs be.

The scheme has been operating for a number of years and foreshore officer Peter Knight said that the system makes it easy for parents to recover lost children and for the lifeguards to know which part of the beach their family or friends are in.

The police are called if a child is lost for more than 10 minutes and if the lifeguards have a lost child with them for more than 15 minutes and are unable to find or contact the family.

One tip the lifeguards offer when looking for a lost child is to look towards the direction the wind is blowing as most children will choose to walk with the wind at their backs.

For the full report - see this week's Gazette.