28/05/2003
Australian professional lifeguards help the Venus Company to launch water safety programme
Britain's leading beach cafe operator is to launch the third year of its Nipper Programme to teach youngsters from a local school how to stay safe in the water.
Sir Geoffrey Newman, the owner of award winning Blackpool Sands, and The Venus Company, the operator of the cafe, shop and watersports at Blackpool Sands in South Devon, are employing two professional lifeguards from Australia to teach the youngsters aged 10 to 11 years.
Young pupils from years 5 & 6 at the nearby Stoke Fleming Primary School will gather on Blackpool Sands beach at 9am on Friday 6 June for their first training session.
Michael Smith, Managing Director of The Venus Company, which operates the Venus Cafe, Beach Shop and watersports at Blackpool Sands said: "We're delighted to launch the third year of our Nipper Programme to educate young people how to play safely in the water.
"The youngsters will be coming down once a week to receive an hour's training from our two Australian professional surf lifeguards, Mark Kennealy and Anthony Caines, who joined us in May to patrol the beach.
"They will take part in a series of fun physical activities and will be taught how to swim in the water as well as learn basic beach and ocean safety. We're hoping they will learn vital lessons that could one day help to save a life."
The Nipper Programme will run from the second half of the summer term while Mark & Anthony are both providing a surf lifeguarding service to the Blackpool Sands beach during the summer holiday season.
Mark & Anthony are both Australian Gold Coast City Council professional lifeguards and members of the Australian Professional Ocean Lifeguard Association. APOLA is recognised internationally as the peak professional surf lifeguard body.
Michael added: "Blackpool Sands is the only Blue Flag beach in the South Hams to directly employ professional Australian lifeguards. Mark & Anthony usually patrol the surfing beaches along Australia's Gold Coast, so we're very lucky to have them here to safeguard the people who flock to Blackpool Sands during the summer to enjoy the beach and water activities.
"We offer visitors to Blackpool Sands a top quality service and the presence of the top quality lifeguards is an additional way of ensuring that visitors who come to the beach enjoy their stay with us and remain safe."
Mark said: "If we can leave the beach at the end of the each day with everybody having safely used it, having had a good time then we have done our job. The main focus of our job is to prevent any accidents happening at all. Our goal is to correctly identify potential problems before they occur. We're also glad to be teaching the youngsters how to use the water and the beach safely as this is very much part of our role."
ENDS
Sir Geoffrey Newman, the owner of award winning Blackpool Sands, and The Venus Company, the operator of the cafe, shop and watersports at Blackpool Sands in South Devon, are employing two professional lifeguards from Australia to teach the youngsters aged 10 to 11 years.
Young pupils from years 5 & 6 at the nearby Stoke Fleming Primary School will gather on Blackpool Sands beach at 9am on Friday 6 June for their first training session.
Michael Smith, Managing Director of The Venus Company, which operates the Venus Cafe, Beach Shop and watersports at Blackpool Sands said: "We're delighted to launch the third year of our Nipper Programme to educate young people how to play safely in the water.
"The youngsters will be coming down once a week to receive an hour's training from our two Australian professional surf lifeguards, Mark Kennealy and Anthony Caines, who joined us in May to patrol the beach.
"They will take part in a series of fun physical activities and will be taught how to swim in the water as well as learn basic beach and ocean safety. We're hoping they will learn vital lessons that could one day help to save a life."
The Nipper Programme will run from the second half of the summer term while Mark & Anthony are both providing a surf lifeguarding service to the Blackpool Sands beach during the summer holiday season.
Mark & Anthony are both Australian Gold Coast City Council professional lifeguards and members of the Australian Professional Ocean Lifeguard Association. APOLA is recognised internationally as the peak professional surf lifeguard body.
Michael added: "Blackpool Sands is the only Blue Flag beach in the South Hams to directly employ professional Australian lifeguards. Mark & Anthony usually patrol the surfing beaches along Australia's Gold Coast, so we're very lucky to have them here to safeguard the people who flock to Blackpool Sands during the summer to enjoy the beach and water activities.
"We offer visitors to Blackpool Sands a top quality service and the presence of the top quality lifeguards is an additional way of ensuring that visitors who come to the beach enjoy their stay with us and remain safe."
Mark said: "If we can leave the beach at the end of the each day with everybody having safely used it, having had a good time then we have done our job. The main focus of our job is to prevent any accidents happening at all. Our goal is to correctly identify potential problems before they occur. We're also glad to be teaching the youngsters how to use the water and the beach safely as this is very much part of our role."
ENDS