Drowning Prevention Week 2022 ran from June 18th – June 25th and is an RLSS national scheme aimed at keeping young people safe in water. The Royal Life Saving Society UK’s mission for Drowning Prevention Week is to help everybody across the UK and Ireland, enjoy water safely. 

Lee Heard, charity director on drowning prevention week 2022 said, “This year we aimed to take a slightly different approach to our national media campaign, doing the hard yards to better understand the claims that are often made about water safety and drowning prevention. We aimed to shine a light on the importance of swimming but further explore the need for parents to invest additional time in themselves and their family understanding water safety. This is a conversation we are aiming to continue and explore further. We also focused on bringing the issue of cold water to the front, backing up it with a deep dive into fatalities leading from cold water. It is important that we continue to highlight this critical factor in drowning and leverage our tools to educate the public. We were delighted to move this conversation on, using our professional expertise.”

What did we do at OHLC?

Throughout the week we hosted a range of activities for drowning prevention week including:

A Water Safety Poster Competition:

Free, Fun Water Safety for the public:

In partnership with Max Johnston Swimming, we hosted two water safety sessions teaching young people how to safely float in water, help to rescue someone in danger, keeping safe in the sea, safe water entry and sticking to the pool rules, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

School Sessions:

We welcomed one of the local schools throughout the week who participated in a range of activities both in and out the pool including: water safety colouring sheets; safety around water; basic water rescues; how to stay safe in and around open water; rescue races and other fun events.

OHLC want to thank everyone who got involved in these events and activities and supported us in helping provide fun and informative sessions to help keep our local community safe.

-Beky