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Page updated: 31 December 2004


Home - News - Archive - 2004 News

'Cold Turkey...' - this year's Boxing Day Swim T-shirt designBoxing Day Swim 2004

Once again a group of hardy souls from North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards braved the icy waters of the North Sea for our annual Boxing Day Swim.

The sun may have been shining, but it didn't raisethe temperature - an air temperature of 4°C and sea temperature of 5°C meant we really lived up to the 'Cold Turkey' slogan on our T shirts!

For more information and photos from this and previous years go to the Boxing Day Swim page.

Or read the BBC News Online article (the photo at the top of the page is of Phil Witty last year).

 

NSVL MAKES A SAVE AT ICELAND

03/10/04 - Members of North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards recently welcomed shoppers to Iceland's new store in Whitley Bay's Park View Shopping Centre as part of a charity bag pack to help raise funds for the club.

A life-size cardboard cut out of one of NSVL's lifeguards carrying Iceland bags full of food had taken pride of place at the entrance to the store in the previous week as part of a competition for customers to guess the amount of savings made in the carrier bags.

The winner of the competition was invited to the store to collect their prize, while Rookie Lifesavers from the club helped pack bags and raise funds from generous customers.

Iceland also made a generous donation of £150 to NSVL for participating.

Thanks go to all the Rookies who took part and to all the Iceland customers who supported us.

 The Rookie lifesavers from NSVL in store raising money for the club
The Rookie Lifesavers outside the store for a photocall   A pale imitation of the real thing. Lifeguard Geoff Wade gets the cardboard cut out treatment

NEW BEACH LIFEGUARD SYLLABUS LAUNCHED

26/08/04 - Following the joint RLSS/SLSA/RNLI Beach Lifeguard pilot scheme in which NSVL participated over the 2002 and 2003 summers, the decision was taken to not to develop a joint qualification and concentrate on updating the current RLSS National Beach Lifeguard Qualification. The new qualification has now been launched and any new beach lifeguard courses run by NSVL will be run under the new syllabus.

Di Cooke, RLSS UK Technical Adviser, said of the new qualification: "We have structured it so that it has got the core skills that all beach lifeguards need.

"In response to industry requirements hthe award has been restructured into two units. Unit One reflects the core skills like first aid, resuscitation and aquatic skills. Unit Two encompasses the specific skills and knowledge that relates to the nature and equipment of the venue at which the training is being delivered."

The new qualification also has a number of additional specialist modules to reflect the increasing amount of equipment that beach lifeguards are using, such as defibrillators and rescue water craft (jet skis).

NSVL trains over 40 beach lifeguards every year and the new qualification is a welcome improvement on what was already a high standard of qualification.

More information about the new Beach Lifeguard Qualification can be found here.

EXTENDED LIFE SUPPORT TRAINER UPDATE

26/08/04 - 26 Extended Life Support Trainers from across the RLSS Northumberland and Durham Branch met at NSVL on Monday 23rd August for an update training session.

The workshop, run by RLSS First Responder Co-ordinator, Barbara Broadbelt (who is also a member of NSVL) was organised to keep trainers abreast of the latest developments in the rapidly changing area of automated external defibrillation.

Many leisure centres, beaches and public places are now getting AEDs, along with increasing numbers of first responder groups. The RLSS is at the forefront of training for these vital pieces of equipment.

There are over 300,000 heart attacks in the UK and Ireland every year, but only 5% of victims survive, mainly due to delayed defibrillation. Defibrillators shock the heart into restarting and act as a vital aid to life before the arrival of ambulance personnel. Each minute the shock from an AED is delayed reduces the victim's chance of survival by 10%.

RLSS UK's First Responder scheme has been chosen by the Rotary Club of Great Britain and Ireland as their chosen charity for 2004-05 and with their help it is hoped to extend the first responder scheme even further.

TOP HONOURS FOR NSVL MEMBERS

15/07/04 - 11 members of NSVL travelled to the Guildhall in London to receive service honours from the RLSS.

The honours recognise the long service and commitment shown by their recipients who between them have over 100 years of service to the RLSS. A full list of recipients is below:

NSVL ASSISTS IN SHORELINE SEARCH

09/05/04 - Members of the North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards who were taking part in their usual Sunday afternoon training session at Whitley Bay on 9th May were called in by Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade to assist in a shoreline search.

While on patrol past Cullercoats Bay, the TVLB vehicle had been flagged down by a Police officer, who asked if they could assist with a possible incident there. A folded pile of child's clothing had been found at the base of the ramp, and there was a concern that the owner was still in the water.

The Back Up Response Team of TVLB were tasked to assist with the search in the Cullercoats area, while NSVL were contacted by TVLB via the club's new handheld VHF radios to search the area from Whitley Bay round via Brown's Bay towards Cullercoats.

The Police air support and Marine units, and Cullercoats RNLI were also tasked to support, with all units keeping in contact through Channel Zero. After nearly 2 hours of extensive searching, with nothing found, and no-one reported as missing, all teams were stood down.

It was later discovered that the clothing had been left on the ramp by a family who had left the beach.

This was a false alarm, but shows the resources instantly at disposal of the Coastguard in the event of an incident.

DIVERS GET HEAD START AT HEARTSTART

07/03/04 - Youngsters from Whitley Bay's Poseidon Sub Aqua Club have become the first in North Tyneside to complete the British Heart Foundation's Heartstart course after teaming up with the North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards.

Over 270,000 people in the UK suffer a heart attack each year - that's one heart attack every two minutes. In 30% of cases the victim dies before reaching hospital.

The emergency life support techniques taught in the 2 hour Heartstart course comprise the vital skills needed to sustain someone's life in an emergency until professional help arrives.

After the success of this first course, NSVL is now looking to extend its availability and would like to hear from any other local groups who are interested in learning how to save lives.

The course is free, you need no previous experience, and it is suitable for anyone over 10 years of age. Courses can be run on evenings and weekends from NSVL's training headquarters on the Lower Promenade, or brought direct to your group.

If you would like to find out more about organising a Heartstart course, you can contact NSVL by e-mailing nsvl@beachlifeguards.co.uk, or phone 07990 827 407.

NEW RESCUE EQUIPMENT FOR NSVL

One of the new rescue boards

17/02/04 - It may not be Baywatch, but local lifeguards are the first in the country to have access to the latest rescue equipment as used by Los Angeles Lifeguards.

The North Sea Volunteer Lifeguard club based at Whitley Bay has just purchased a number of new rescue surfboards to be used to train lifeguards ready for the summer season.

The boards, which are imported from the USA, are the latest in surfboard technology, made from super-lightweight materials enabling lifeguards to reach casualties much more quickly than with traditional boards.

Geoff Wade, who is one of the club's Beach Lifeguard Trainers, said, "With the increasing popularity of surfing on the north's coast it is important that lifeguards are able use rescue boards. Previously, some of the smaller lifeguards, especially the girls, found it difficult to handle the heavy boards which weigh up to 50lbs. These new lightweight boards make life a lot easier, and lifeguards have no problem running down to the shoreline with them and getting out through the surf."

The investment in the new equipment is part of the North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards' commitment to provide the most up to date training facilities for lifeguards. The club is already the UK's leading lifeguard training club with trainees coming from all over the country to attend courses.

So the next time you're down at Whitley Bay on a Sunday afternoon, look out for the distinctive yellow and red boards and watch the lifeguards in action!


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