Lincolnshire Voluntary Lifeguards have recently secured a grant from the Co-operative Community Champions Fund to help develop the club and its activity. Honorary Secretary of the club, Gemma Plummer, has shared with us how securing a grant has helped the club make a difference.

Applying for local grants is a very effective way for a lifesaving club to do that little bit extra for their members and surrounding communities. This donation will be invaluable for our club and our lifeguards as well as the local community, beach users and other local clubs who visit to experience beach lifesaving

The Co-op granted the club £902.15 and due to the outstanding generosity of the Co-ops donation, we have been able to purchase more than anticipated.

First of all we purchased two new rescue boards. We previously only had one very old operational rescue board, which is very heavy, making training and rescue for our current lifeguards very difficult. Two additional boards will not only benefit club training but they will become part of our rescue equipment. The boards will be used for rescue cover for events and training sessions. With additional boards, we will be able to increase the number of local clubs and individuals that the club can offer training too. With more mobile cover in the water, we can invite more clubs to visit from across the region. In addition, the club will also use the boards to open up access to sport and competition training.

In addition to purchasing new rescue boards, the club was able to support the training of voluntary beach lifeguards and our rookies. The club purchased two Beach Lifeguard candidate packs as well as hats to ensure the training of our Rookies is correctly monitored. Candidates who come to train at the beach to learn about water safety must be equipped with high visibility hats ensuring they are safe from UV rays and highly visible during their activities

Lincolnshire Voluntary Lifeguards would like to thank the Co-Operative Community Champions and in particular the support of the staff at Chapel St Leonards for all the support and help to our club.

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