30th anniversary celebrations and presentation evening

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Following another successful season providing voluntary lifesaving cover on Exmouth beach, members of the Exmouth Beach Rescue Club took some well-earned time out on Friday 28 October to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the club.

About 150 people joined us at Ocean on Exmouth seafront to reminisce, give thanks to supporters and celebrate the achievements of the club. Those who came were treated to fish and chips from local chip shop, Krispies, and music from the fabulous Go Tell Alice.

The evening also recognised the achievements of members over the past year, with presentations being made to newly qualified lifeguards, lifesavers and coaches, as well as the annual awards as follows:

Tracey Simpson received the Clubman award for her dedication and commitment to the club. Tracey doesn’t miss a training session and helps everyone she can. She was also responsible for the fantastic food we were able to provide at this year’s surf lifesaving national championships.

The Competition award was presented to Scott Simpson-Currie in recognition of his dedication to surf lifesaving sport, and to celebrate the gold medal he won in beach flags at the nationals this year.

Lillie Johnson received the Most Improved Member award. Lillie has come on leaps and bounds since joining the club and her confidence and skill on the water has improved greatly.

The Best Senior award was handed to Vicky Gall, the club’s vice-captain, for her continued support to the club even through her study and work life. As the club currently has no captain, Vicky has also been stepping up to cover the role of captain.

Jake Butt received the Best Junior award for his consistent dedication, attendance and support.

Two members jointly received the Captain’s Cup – Eva Waddell and Martha Bowden. The girls have really grown over the last season, receiving their lifeguard qualifications and working as lifeguards for the RNLI. They have truly stepped up, taking training sessions and additional responsibilities. They have both grown in confidence and brought their newly learned skills from the RNLI back to the club.

Finally, Tracey Simpson received the Members’ Choice award. The recipient of this award is chosen by the members following a nomination process and Tracey was the clear winner. Members wanted to celebrate Tracey’s kind, supportive and helpful nature and recognise her for the hard work she put in keeping everyone fed at the nationals.

Members now head into their winter training programme to ensure they are ready for the 2017 season!

Voluntary lifeguards clock up over 1,200 hours this summer

The summer is officially over for the voluntary lifeguards at Exmouth Beach Rescue Club, who managed to clock up an impressive number of voluntary hours keeping beach users safe this summer.

In all, 29 members gave up 1,237 hours of their own time, unpaid, to provide the lifeguard patrols on the 18 Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays throughout the summer season.

Over the summer, the club’s voluntary lifeguards performed eight rescues, dealt with 16 first aid incidents and provided advice and guidance to 137 beach users.

In addition to patrols, members continued a fitness and lifeguard skills training programme throughout the summer, with new members being supported and encouraged into the water overseen by experienced coaches.

The club also hosted the Surf Life Saving Great Britain National Championships for the second year running, with members embracing the opportunity to compete on their local beach and to help with the smooth running of a national sporting event.

But that wasn’t all!  The club also sent water safety cover to some large national, and smaller local, sporting events.  Lifeguards and boat crews from the club provided safety cover for events including the London, Blenheim, Hyde Park, Dawlish and South Hams triathlons, as well as long distance swimming events including the Exe and Starcross swims, organised by the Exmouth Swimming and Life Saving Society.

Club spokesperson, Dan Thorogood, looked back at the achievements of this season and said:

“It truly has been a magnificent year for the club.  We have seen our membership grow and our club build on everyone’s strengths.  We have very successfully hosted the nationals for the second year running, which benefited not only the club and the seafront, but also businesses in and out of the town.  Our members have once again shown they are truly dedicated to voluntary service for their local community, and the season’s figures speak for themselves in what we have achieved.  On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all the members, helpers and parents who have kept the club on its feet this year, as well as all those who have supported the club through sponsorship, donations, labour and in any other way.  We are a small charity and without such support we would not be able to achieve what we do.  Thank you. “

Now the summer is over the club is looking at its winter training programme, which will build on the fitness and life guarding skills training that has been ongoing throughout the summer.  Fitness and theory training continues on Tuesday evenings, and Sunday mornings will soon see swim training return along with practical life saving skills in the sea.

For anyone interested in what Exmouth Beach Rescue Club is up to, or if you are interested in joining, take a look at their website www.exmouthbeachrescueclub.org, or find them on Facebook and Twitter.

English Channel Relay

A team of 4 seasoned swimmers from Exmouth Swimming & Life Saving Society are raising funds for us so we can buy a new all-singing, all-dancing resuscitation training mannequin.

This evening the team received the call they've been waiting for...they set off in the early hours of tomorrow morning!!

We wish them all the best with their challenge, and hope they smash the existing relay record.

There is still plenty of time to sponsor them...not only will we see the benefit as a club, but it will give the team a huge boost to know they have your support! 

So, what are you waiting for?  Head over to https://localgiving.com/fundraising/chanelrealy2015 

Surf Life Saving National Champs coming to Exmouth in 2 weeks!

The national championships are nearly upon us!

We are working hard behind the scenes to make sure the event is a huge success for the club, competitors, supporters and Exmouth.

Kicking off on Wednesday 26th with the masters age group, the champs run until Sunday 30th, with youth and nipper age categories starting on Thursday 27th and Saturday 29th respectively.

After last year's highly successful event, we are confident that this year will be even better!  With competitions taking place both on the beach and in the water, there is something for everyone!

Make sure you come down to support your voluntary lifesaving club and championship competitors, while enjoying some top-class performances from our national teams in some truly interesting sporting events.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Image courtesy of Thoroughly Good Photography

Devon Champs Ocean Events

Sunday saw 13 members compete at the Devon championships at Putsborough, taking part in board, swim and tube rescue events. 

After a hard winters' training the juniors did everyone proud with a 5th place finish, which is a great result for the small number of competitors that went up.

The day saw challenging conditions with 3-4ft messy surf, that increased in size through the day.  Keeping control of a 10ft race board is a special skill in those conditions but it was also a great opportunity to test their competence in solid conditions.

We're looking forward to the beach events as well as the nipper and master events still to come so stay tuned for updated results!

Well done all and thanks to the parents that delivered all competitors and kit to Putsborough for the day! And SLS Devon volunteers for organising a great day.