Seventy young people are set to descend on a South Wales beach next week as The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), the drowning prevention charity, kicks off the biggest UK event of its kind.

The young lifesavers, aged between 14 and 18-years-old will spend a week at Porthcawl Lifeguard Club on Sandy Bay Beach from 3 to 9 August 2014 for the RLSS UK’s biggest ever Survive & Save beach camp.

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 them the knowledge of how to stay safe, self-rescue and save others in a beach environment.

Camp goers from the UK will be joined by young lifesavers from Norway and Germany, providing an excellent opportunity to learn about different cultures and languages. The camp will help 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, there will be 20 UK volunteers taking up various roles to ensure the safe, smooth and professional running of the camp. Some of these will be RLSS UK Young Leaders.

This not for profit event utilises the skills, expertise and culture available in the local area to improve the experience. In addition, camp volunteers will be providing water safety advice to local communities and tourists. This is hugely important as the charity continues to provide education to people enjoying the water this summer.

RLSS UK’s National Youth Engagement Officer and camp organiser, Lee Heard, said: “This is a great chance to have some fun, meet new friends and develop as lifesavers as the packed programme is full of exciting activities and events. This includes the opportunity to come away with a Bronze Survive & Save Beach Award which is not only great fun to learn but leaves the young people with life skills that could potentially save their lives as well as the lives of others.”