  |
Lifesaving |
|
Lifesaving has a long history and the first international lifesaving conference was held in France in 1878. In 1910 the first official international lifesaving organisation (the FIS) was established and included countries such as Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and Turkey. The Royal Life Saving Society was created in 1891 as a joining of the British and Irish Lifesaving clubs and soon expanded to include Canada and Australia. In 1971 the formation of WLS (World Lifesaving Organisation) occurred and brought together countries such as New Zealand, The UK, South Africa and the United States in protecting the public on beaches worldwide. This organisation later merged with the FIS and became the International Life Saving Federation in1993. All of the UK's major tourist beaches have lifeguards and the oportunity for children to join in with the surf life saving clubs. This enables them to start from an early age, and build their confidence and knowledge with the sea and the possibility of saving lives in the future. A lot of the UK's smaller coastal resorts can get very busy and therefore have lifeguards on duty throughout the summer. Cardigan Bay for example, along the west coast of Wales has many beaches that fill with tourists over the summer months, so the RNLI have placed lifeguards along the more popular beaches such as Poppit Sands, New Quay and Hell's Mouth. There is also the Poppit sands surf life saving club that any children can join, so have a look at their site and see what activities the children get up to and see if you would like yours to join in your local life saving club. It's also a very fun, activity filled, energetic club for kids to get involved with others.
|
|
| Home | Equipment Used | Lifesaving | around the world | Competitions | Contact Us | | |
Lifesaving itself is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid given to an individual in need and as such saving their life. In most cases it is used in reference to water safety such as lifeguards but it can also be applied to the rescue of individuals in situations such as ice rescue, flood and river rescue and emergency medical situations. However, it should be noted that Lifesaving is now not just about rescue. It also has a large element of prevention in its work and a lot of events are arranged in order to educate people and help prevent the need for lifesaving.