Firefighters take to Braywick pool for water rescue demonstration

Youngsters from a primary school in Maidenhead watched a live water rescue demonstration following a water safety assembly as part of Drowning Prevention Week this morning (Wednesday).

Last month, Leisure Focus, which operates the Braywick and Windsor leisure centres launched its River and Open Water Safety and Drowning Prevention campaign, which is being backed by the Advertiser.

To mark the Royal Life Saving Society’s (RLSS UK) Drowning Prevention Week, which is running until Saturday, June 22, the Leisure Focus team hosted an interactive water safety assembly, followed by a live water rescue demonstration by firefighters. 

More than 200 people, including pupils and teachers from Oldfield Primary School, were at Braywick Leisure Centre for an interactive assembly in the Baylis Theatre covering water safety. 

As part of the assembly key water safety messages were shared as well as information on how to keep safe around open water. 

Following the assembly, firefighters from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) took to the leisure centre pool for the rescue demonstration.

Mark Jones, station manager at Slough and Langley fire stations, and his team showed pupils and staff an array of safety and rescue techniques. 

This included swimming techniques if a person falls in the river, self-rescue and identifying safe areas, fire service reach and rescue techniques, the throw line rescue, the swift water rescue, the tethered swim rescue and the inflatable sled rescue.

Jatinder Singh Rakhra, sports inclusion and partnership manager at Leisure Focus, said: “It was great to see the kids interact in the assembly.

“To be able to have a statutory service, like the fire service, involved [in our] campaign just shows how impactful it is and how high it is in everyone’s priorities. 

“They took time out of their busy day to come and educate these young children about the dangers of swimming in open water and safety. 

“The reason it took place at Braywick Leisure Centre is because if the children do want to swim, they can come to our facilities, they can see we have a swimming pool. They don’t need to take risks swimming in open water and rivers.”

Catherine Page, headteacher at Oldfield Primary School, said: “Both presentations were very engaging for the children, and they learnt a great deal. 

“Water poses a real danger to the children in this area, so I am really pleased they have taken away key messages around water safety.”

She added that she is ‘very grateful’ to both the staff at Braywick and the firefighters from RBFRS for ‘giving up their time to educate our children on such an important topic’. 

The campaign runs until September and looks to raise awareness of river safety and educate youngsters on water safety in the hope of saving lives. 

As part of the initiative, organisers are reminding people to be mindful, remember key water safety message and make use of the resources available. 

Leisure Focus is offering a 10-minute interactive video on its YouTube channel, endorsed by the RLSS UK, which is designed for primary school pupils and provides key water safety messages in an educational and engaging way.

Free RLSS water safety resources for children aged five to 11, including thematic lessons, animations, posters and activity sheets are also available.  

The water safety message is also being highlighted to secondary school students as part of a hard-hitting video by RLSS UK, which highlights the dangers of open water and calls for people to use the ‘Float to Live’ strategy if they get in trouble in the water. 

The 10-minute interactive video can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LY1AlcxwZY&t=331s

To download or sign up for free water safety resources, visit: https://www.rlss.org.uk/Pages/Category/drowning-prevention-week-campaign 

To view the water safety video for secondary school students, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuTtfihSuE