Recruitment for this season’s team of RNLI beach lifesavers has opened, ready for the summer to staff the beaches at Camber, Hastings, Bexhill and St Leonards.
There has been a great uptake and, in preparation, the supervisors are being trained and assessed in readiness to put the new recruits through their paces. There will also be a number of lifeguards from last year returning for this season.
Sam Ellison, lifeguard assessor trainer, south east region was at Camber beach this week and summed up his time there: “It’s been fantastic training and assessing the lifeguard supervisors and senior lifeguards from Hastings over the last week. With the ever-changing conditions, no day is the same.
“Thankfully, we had beautiful conditions on Tuesday to run through our yearly rescue water craft (jet ski) competencies at Camber Sands where I saw outstanding practical skills and theoretical knowledge from all involved. The Hastings lifeguards are working incredibly hard to ensure they are prepared and ready for the upcoming season.”
Kicking off at Easter
Beach lifeguards are at the forefront of the charity’s lifesaving work, proactively managing the safety of the beach, rescuing those in difficulty and offering safety advice to visitors.
The skills that lifeguards gain can be an ideal first step towards many career paths or offer invaluable experience for those studying or training in a similar field. The RNLI training is world-renowned and gives confidence to the lifeguards to carry out their duties effectively, especially on busy sunny days like those we saw last summer.
The RNLI lifeguards will be on duty at Camber over the Easter weekend April 2 -5, at weekends and bank holidays during May and then daily from May 29 to 3 October.
Image Credits: kt bruce .