The Royal Life Saving Society UK’s Camp Survive & Save hailed a great success.

Seventy young people descended on a south Wales beach last week as The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), the drowning prevention charity, hosted the biggest UK lifesaving event of its kind.

The young lifesavers, aged between 14 and 18-years-old, spent a packed week at Porthcawl Lifeguard Club on Sandy Bay Beach between 3 and 9 August for the RLSS UK’s biggest ever Survive & Save beach camp.

Camp goers from the UK were joined by young lifesavers from Norway and Germany, providing an excellent opportunity to learn about different cultures and languages as well as lifesaving skills including achieving their Bronze Survive & Save Beach awards. They were also joined by the Mayor of Porthcawl, Coun Sean Aspey who paid a visit.

RLSS UK’s National Youth Engagement Officer and camp organiser, Lee Heard, said: “Camp Survive & Save was a great success this year. The young lifesavers developed some crucial skills that will not only give them the ability to keep their local communities safe but it has also given them valuable life skills.

“It was refreshing to see the integration of language and culture and everyone made many new friends, gained lifesaving awards and had an unforgettable experience!”

Camp Survive & Save engages young people in an international youth exchange that has clear goals to provide water safety skills in a fun and inspiring way, that will give young people the knowledge of how to stay safe, self-rescue and save others in a beach environment.

The camp also helped to improve citizenship by improving the cultural understanding of the young people across Europe, as well as developing leadership, communication and teambuilding skills.

In addition, camp volunteers also provided water safety advice to local communities and tourists which supported the work of RLSS UK to provide education to people enjoying the water this summer.