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Active Bolton and Bolton Lads and Girls Club Launch Water Safety Training Programme for Young People in Bolton

· Tom Giblin

Active Bolton and Bolton Lads and Girls Club (BLGC) launched a water safety education programme for young people aged 8 to 18 this week.

Awareness and first aid training sessions took place at BLGC’s Infinity hub on Spa Road for 8 to 12-year-olds on 21 July, followed by an evening session for 13 to 18-year-olds on 23 July.

All attendees were provided with an educational water safety presentation as well as essential, practical first aid training.

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Delivered by lifeguard trainers from Active Bolton, classroom-based awareness lessons, first aid training and a practical water safety session aim to improve safety knowledge, water confidence and emergency response awareness.

Steve Little (Active Bolton Health and Wellbeing Officer) said: “It was fantastic to see so many young people actively engaging with the water safety and first aid sessions, showing great enthusiasm and willingness to learn potentially life-saving skills. The partnership between Active Bolton and BLGC is helping to build confidence, awareness and safer behaviours around water for young people across the community.”

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Building on the success of this week’s sessions, Active Bolton will be delivering further activities in August. This will include a water safety talk for a group of up to 40 children with Special Educational Needs, followed by a practical in-water session for 30 children, designed to embed their learning and increase confidence around the vital water safety message – float to live.

The safety drive follows a spate of drownings during this summer’s repeated heatwaves.

Stuart Kay, Active Bolton’s Head of Sport and Communities, explains: “We’ve been working with Bolton Lads and Girls Club for many years as part of our commitment to the community. Since we’ve taken on the management contract for the council, we’ve been able to extend the activities we can support BLGC with, and this is another example. It’s a vital and potentially life-saving programme.”