People across the UK are being urged to dress like a superhero for a day to save lives. The gesture backs Water Safety Awareness Week, which is taking place
June 16 – 24.
The call comes after British Olympic diver Nick Robinson Baker launched
the countdown to the drowning prevention awareness campaign last week.
Nick, 24, who became a lifesaver when he rescued fellow diver Monique
Gladding from the water at a World Cup meeting in Russia last year, is
spearheading Water Safety Awareness Week, by the Royal Lifesaving
Society UK (RLSS UK).
Water Safety Awareness Week climaxes on Friday 22 June, when everyone is
being asked to take part in Top Trunks by wearing their swimming kit
over the top of their clothes for the day and posting photos of
themselves online.
Nick explains: “The idea is that on Friday 22 June as many people as
possible wear their swimming trunks and costumes over their normal
clothes and go about their normal lives. It will be a really visual
prompt to people to find out more about Water Safety Awareness Week.
“All we ask is that people email photos of themselves in their Top Trunks outfits to watersafetyawarenessweek@rlss.org.uk and that they pay a minimum of £1 to RLSS UK via JustGiving by searching on the Royal Life Saving Society UK.
“As I found out, you’ll never know when you may need to save someone’s
life, and this will be a really fun way to encourage people to learn how
they and their loved ones can be safe in, on, or near water.”
The launch of Water Safety Awareness Week follows a spike in drownings across the UK and Ireland in recent weeks.
RLSS UK - the national water safety and drowning prevention charity -
hopes its national campaign will help to reduce the annual number of
accidental deaths from drowning in the UK. Latest available figures,
from the National Water Safety Forum, show that there were 420
accidental deaths from drowning in 2010 – one nearly every 17 hours.
Di Standley, chief executive of national charity RLSS UK, said: “We hope
that the idea of Top Trunks will catch on and become more popular each
year. It’s a light-hearted way of getting across a serious message.
Even if just one life is saved as a result of Water Safety Awareness
Week, then it will be a success.”
One person who will be following Top Trunks with interest is Leamington
Spa charity worker Sally Crowther, 32, whose father drowned in Crete in
2004.
She said: "It was horrible. Unfortunately we'll never know what really
happened but perhaps he decided to go for an early morning swim on his
own and just couldn't cope with the tide.
"My dad drowning is one of the worst things that my family and I have
ever gone through and I would never want anyone else to go through the
same thing.
"I think that Water Safety Awareness Week is not just important, it's
essential. Open water needs to be respected and understood. Please
don't let what happened to my dad also happen to you."
Money raised from Water Safety Awareness Week will help RLSS UK to
deliver water safety packs for school children, free community
lifesaving sessions and the charity’s ‘Don’t drink and drown’ campaign.
Find out more about Top Trunks and follow the Week on Twitter at #WSAW2012.
Five top water safety tips from RLSSS UK
1. Teach your children to swim and if they or you don’t swim, go for lessons
2. Accompany any children in your care in the water, staying within your
depth. It’s more fun and you can keep them close and safe
3. Never swim alone.
4. Only swim at lifeguarded beaches and lakes
5. Look out for lifesaving classes at your local swimming pool
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