With the great news of South Worcester Lifeguards receiving the Sport England Award, Debbie Weston, Lifesaving Instructor has shared with us how the award came about.

To help carry out more community safety cover at water based events within the branch and nationally, South Worcester Lifeguards needed more helms to drive their patrol boats.

Having researched the grants available and the criteria required to meet them, South Worcester Lifeguards submitted an application to Sport England earlier this year to train 10 members of the club in their Royal Yachting Association 2 (RYA) qualification in order to increase the number of helms able to drive their dorey patrol boats at local community water based events.

In June they were advised they had been successful in securing £2,800.

Debbie commented: “It’s a great opportunity both for the club and the individuals involved. We are always keen to up skill or members and ensure the lifesaving and life guarding skills they are learning in club are being used to good effect for the local community”.

24 members have applied for the 10 places and some of those have taken their first steps by attending a Boat Awareness Day run by senior helms already within the club in July which helped to familiarise them with launching, driving and retrieving the boats.

The successful candidates will attend the full RYA2 course before the end of 2013.

If you are interested in obtaining your own funding from Sport England visit their website at http://www.sportengland.org/funding for more details.