Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club

After a good service at the Salvation Army, this morning we noticed there was a lot happening down at Boscombe beach, so we decided to wander down - there were people surfing, paddle boarding, kayaking and swimming - all very much braver than I, because although the sun came out fleetingly, there was a chill wind and some rather large waves - well it is the end of September!

Yesterday, we had spoken to a man who introduced himself as "Sponge" (top picture) but he assured us his name had nothing to do with Victoria - he did tell us why that was his nickname, but I can't remember! He was a very pleasant chap, so when we saw him again today, we had another chat with him. Turns out he is the Vice Chairman of Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club and he was telling us that they train youngsters aged from 7-16 in life saving and beachcraft skills. After chatting to him, I thought he would make a worthy blip for me today and he readily agreed.

He introduced us to three of the lads who are involved, from the left, Tom, Louis and Jack, and after having a chat with them, they all raced off to go out in their inshore rescue boats so that they were on hand if anyone got into difficulty in the races.

One thing Sponge told us that I felt was worth noting is that if anyone is involved in an incident anywhere in Europe, if they dial 112 from their mobile, they can be triangulated to within 100 metres of that incident - far better than dialling 999 - so a good number to remember.

One thing that impresses me about the people I have met who are involved in life saving is their friendliness and willingness to speak about what they do and we need to bear in mind that most of them are volunteers.

Later I met Lana, who is the Regional Development Officer for Surf Life Saving Great Britain and again, she was very friendly and interested in what I was doing with my blip - she said they had lots of different events in the coming months, and I would be very welcome to go and take photographs - so some good blipping opportunities there!

If you want to know more, there is a Facebook Page for Southbourne Surf Life Saving - do have a look!

Have a great week, fellow blippers, and if the sun doesn't shine on you, keep "Singing in the Rain" (Angelique will know what I mean!)