PARKWOOD LEISURE DELIVERS OVER 87,000 WATER SAFETY LESSONS TO SUPPORT RLSS UK’S DROWNING PREVENTION WEEK

Wednesday 1st August 2023 – The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK)’s Drowning Prevention Week 2023, took place from the 17 – 24 June and was considered the biggest and most successful yet, with an estimated 1.85million children learning lifesaving skills from water safety education during the week, which included more than 1.3 million lessons which were delivered at leisure centres or by leisure centre staff.

One leisure operator that got fully behind the campaign was Parkwood Leisure, who manage over 90 venues on behalf of public and private sector partners throughout England and Wales. Throughout the week their staff were busy visiting schools and local community groups, sharing water safety skills during their timetabled swimming lessons and delivering water safety workshops to the general public. 

A range of activities for customers were also organised including; colouring competitions, CPR demonstrations, distributed water safety activity sheets and created informative displays in their reception areas as well as sharing water safety messages across their social media channels.  In total, across all their sites, during the week’s activities, they delivered water safety lessons to over 87,000 children. 

Drowning Prevention Week is the RLSS UK’s flagship awareness campaign and is designed to support everybody across the UK and Ireland to enjoy water, safely by sharing the skills and knowledge to make the right decisions about water safety, and make memories that will last a lifetime, for all the right reasons.

Jo Talbot, Commercial Director at RLSS UK said:

“We are delighted that the leisure industry got behind the RLSS UK’s Drowning Prevention Week campaign, especially at the moment when the industry is facing so many challenges themselves. Leisure Centres, swimming pools and swimming lessons are critical in ensuring that all, but especially the next generation, are educated in water safety so that they have the knowledge and skills to enjoy water safely. It’s great to hear about Parkwood’s commitment to the campaign and we would like to thank all Leisure Operators for their efforts during Drowning Prevention Week to get these vital messages to their customers as their support is vital to making the campaign a success.”

Alex Godfrey, Operations Director at Parkwood Leisure added:

“As a leading leisure operator, it is our responsibility to support Drowning Prevention Week by creating as much awareness as possible about water safety. Our Learn to Swim programme prioritises survival techniques in water and we run The RLSS Rookie to Lifeguard programme which we hope plays significant roles in minimising drowning incidents across the UK. I am proud of what our teams have achieved for Drowning Prevention Week this year and we’ll continue to support our partners, The RLSS, in future campaigns.” 

To learn more about Drowning Prevention Week or tips on how to stay safe this summer visit www.rlss.org.uk/water-safety-information

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