Published: 31 January 2022

In December 2021 we ran our annual Don’t Drink and Drown campaign which saw lots of great engagement across the country as well as on social media.  

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service kickstarted the campaign week with a stall in Newcastle quayside in partnership with Newcastle City Council’s Flood Management and Resilience Planning team, Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, and RLSS UK. They spoke to members of the public and also managed to feature on BBC Newcastle.  

There were also a number of free Water Rescue Equipment Training (WRET) sessions throughout the week in various locations nationwide, with fantastic numbers attending to learn more about using water rescue equipment.  

Staff from bars and nightclubs in Manchester received training from the Manchester Water Safety Partnership (RLSS UK, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue, Greater Manchester Police, Canal and River Trust and the RNLI) during the campaign and featured on BBC News. 

Training also ran in Runswick Bay in Yorkshire with The North York Moors National Park, Generation Green and RNLI Community Safety Staithes and Runswick Lifeboat, and saw Police Officers, Paramedics, Nurses and Sports Coaches taking part, as well as a group of young people on a residential through the North York Moors National Park. 

There was even more free training at Tattershall Lakes, Lincolnshire for the Security and Maintenance teams at the lakes to ensure everyone can enjoy water safely at the park.  

With all the great activity from the RLSS UK community, the Don’t Drink and Drown campaign featured on national BBC news, reaching over 87 million people. The campaign also received fantastic coverage in various regions including Edinburgh, Sunderland, Newcastle, and Shropshire to name a few, with a reach of over 1million combined.  

Social media posts from the RLSS UK accounts also received great coverage. The RLSS UK accounts posted 58 times over the course of the week with content relating to Don’t Drink and Drown, with a mixture of videos, photos, links, and carousels. There was a total of 46,527 organic impressions on the posts with a potential reach of over 1 million people. The posts were engaged with over 3,500 times and shared 400 times. Videos were viewed over 16,600 times with a very powerful video from water safety campaigner, Kirsty Walsh being viewed over 880 times across our platforms.  

Thank you to everyone for sharing the important message of Don’t Drink and Drown.  There were great events taking place during the week and without the support of all of you we couldn’t share the message as far and wide as we have been able to.