Aviva Community Fund provided £288 of match funding
Essential Training & Equipment
Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Aim
We aim to preserve life in and around water, we operate a volunteer safety boat. We are raising money for training and equipment
We are a group of volunteers who operate a safety boat at the Royal Albert & adjoining Docks in Liverpool on a Friday and Saturday night between the hours of 8pm and midnight, whatever the weather. We are the only safety boat at the south Liverpool Docks and we have saved lives. We aim to be there in those vital minutes between a person entering the water and the arrival of the Emergency Services when the risks to life are greatest though cold water shock and even drowning.
Our members are trained in First Aid, boat handling, rescue techniques and communications. Everyone gives their time voluntarily, no salaries are paid. We also have volunteers to help with 'Back Office' work - finance and legal matters, social media, fundraising and administration.
Our activities range from simply offering water safety advice to retrieving casualties from the water. We have assisted the Police with searches of the water, and been ready with the boat to assist the Emergency Services when they have been helping despondent people. We have helped people who have suffered falls and injured themselves, talked to apparently despondent people and persuaded them to accept help, we have become very good at preventing people from entering the water.
During the first COVID lockdown, with proper protective measures in place, we extended our activities to every night as more despondent people were drawn to the water and helped several people.
Looking forward, the team want to be able to assist in times of flooding, both locally and nationally. Extensive training is needed before we can be recognised as a flood asset and be called on to help, we are raising funds to develop our training process. We also need some dedicated items of rescue equipment. Our affiliation with SLS GB (national awarding and oversight body) gives us access to DEFRA level training and will ensure we reach the standard needed. We have seen on news broadcasts how vital the role of volunteers has become in the areas hit by floods this winter and last, and our team want to be able to assist our community in times of flood. As the effects of Climate change are felt, we are told to expect more flooding events. Merseyside Water Rescue are actively working to help.
This project successfully funded on 23rd March 2021