National Beach Safety
Service launches at Weymouth Beach.
Play, Paddling, and Peace of mind for parents on
Weymouth beach this summer.
Weymouth beach, is a magnet for families in the summer and
has so many fun things to enjoy and do that it’s no wonder
children get distracted. Like all popular beaches, Weymouth
is all too familiar with tears and traumas when a child is
lost, even for the shortest time.
What should families do if this happens?
This year Weymouth & Portland Borough Council
and the RNLI will reduce anxiety all round with the launch
of Child Safe Beach, sponsored by Wall’s Ice Cream
Child Safe Beach has been developed especially for lifeguarded
beaches and is based on Child Safe services already operating
successfully in Shopping Centres and other family attractions
throughout the UK. Child Safe is fast becoming the nationally
recognisable way to get help quickly if a child is lost or
found in a busy place.
Clear messages to families using Weymouth beach:
- If you lose sight of your child, stay put, and
summon a lifeguard. Storing the Child Safe
Beach number in a phone means parents on the beach
can contact the RNLI Beach Lifeguards, directly, if a child
is lost, found or distressed. The service means being able
to stay as close as possible to where their child was last
seen. (RNLI Beach Lifeguards operate at Weymouth beach
between 10am and 6pm everyday, throughout the summer.)
- All the latest Beach safety info in less than
a minute! Posters displayed at car parks and up
and down the esplanade invite parents to call the Child
Safe Beach telephone number giving them the latest
beach safety information updated daily by the RNLI Beach
Lifeguards. High & low tides, safe bathing areas, reminders
on sun safety and using inflatables safely.
- A mobile number or holiday contact details on
a wristband is one the simplest way for someone to reunite
your lost child with you... Parents are asked to
make sure their children are carrying contact details on
them. Free water resistant wristbands are being distributed
up and down Weymouth beach, or can be collected from the
RNLI Beach Lifeguard service or Lost Child Unit, on the
beach in front of the Tourist Information Centre.
Kevin Good, Beach Manager at Weymouth says:
The Child Safe Beach scheme helps us remind families to
take sensible precautions before they get onto the beach,
and in the event of a lost child, helps us to reunite them
quickly, bringing the smiles back to everyone’s face, which
is what a day at the beach should be all about.
Muriel Worden and Janice Munday care for
lost children on Weymouth Beach at the Lost Children
Unit, on the beach, directly in front of the Tourist
Information Centre: “These new wristbands are easy to use
and comfortable to wear and the bright colours mean kids think
they’re cool to wear. Being water resistant and secure until
they are deliberately taken off, children can still go in
and out of the sea without the bands coming off or getting
torn and lost. The quicker we can return a lost child to their
family the better it is for everyone. So Child Safe Beach
has our full backing ” says Muriel. This will be her 25th
summer caring for children at the beach.
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Brief holder
for Economy and Tourism: Cllr Lynne Herbert said:
"As a Borough Councillor and mother my support is
totally behind this Child Safe Beach scheme, children love
to run free on the soft sandy beach, by only wearing swimwear
a child can disappear very quickly into the crowds which can
be very distressing for a parent or guardian, so by raising
awareness through the Child Safe Beach scheme we will be able
to reunite families, so a day on our town beach will end on
a happy note"
Steve Wills, RNLI Beach Safety and Education Manager,
says: “RNLI lifeguards and volunteer lifeboat crews are
only too well aware of the number of children who wander out
of sight on beaches and of the trauma it causes, so the charity
fully supports the Child Safe Beach service, that helps speed
up the process of finding a lost child. This scheme helps
the RNLI to provide sensible beach safety information to beach
users, through the daily safety message available on the telephone,
that should ultimately reduce the number serious accidents
and even deaths that occur each year. The RNLI is closely
monitoring the benefits of the scheme on Weymouth beach this
year with a view to adopting the scheme at other RNLI life-guarded
beaches in 2006.”
Wall’s Ice Cream has been involved in promoting Water
Safety Education for many years. Their education programme
was recognised last year when Wall’s Waterwise collected a
highly commended Award for Social Commitment at the 2004 IGD
Food Industry Awards.
Alison Giles, Unilever UK Community Manager,
said: “We are all very excited about the new relationship
between Wall’s, Child Safe and the RNLI Beach Lifeguards.
Our contribution to the Child Safe Weymouth Beach project,
and sponsorship of the RNLI Beach Lifeguards water safety
leaflet campaign and travelling road show, will continue to
help educate parents and children on the importance of being
safe when in and around the water’s edge.”
Paul Kent who founded Child Safe adds “Our aim
is to reduce anxiety for a child if they are lost, and to
make sure parents know how to get help if they lose site of
their child, wherever they are. We’ve been delighted
with the progress we’ve made in 2005. Child Safe have worked
very closely with families, shopping centres, schools and
family attractions in the last 2 years, and have made significant
progress towards establishing Child Safe as a nationally identifiable
lost child benchmark, promoting clarity, at the places visited
by families, on how to get help if a child is lost or found,
and offering families effective tools to help them to help
themselves in such circumstances."
For more information on Child Safe, their products
and services, visit www.childsafezones.co.uk
or call 08700 624 919 during office hours.
ENDS
Press Contacts:
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council
Contact: Steve Davies
Child Safe Zones
Contact Judith Stanley: 08700 624 919
Child Safes Zones can be found at www.childsafezones.co.uk,
by phone on 08700 624 919 or by email at info@communityalerts.co.uk
RNLI
Contact: Julia Sylvester 01202 663184
jsylvester@rnli.org.uk | www.rnli.org.uk
Wall's Ice Cream
Will McIntosh. Telephone number: 01932 263629.
William.j.mcintosh@unilever.com | www.walls.co.uk
Head Office: Walton Court, Station Avenue, Walton-On-Thames,
Surrey, KT12 1NT.
Click here now to register with Child Safe Zones.
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