As of this coming Saturday (4th July), Sandown beach will have two RNLI Lifeguards providing safety cover, after Sandown Town council arranged it.
The cover will be 10:00 – 18:00 and be in place until 6 September – so covering the whole of the main season. The Town council hope that next year the cover might be for more of the year.
It’s the first time that RNLI have provided lifeguards on the Isle of Wight.
“Proactive”
Nicky Taylor, Chair of Sandown Business Association told OnTheWight, “It’s great to see the Town council being proactive and responding to a need.”
The potential of this has been discussed for a number of years, ever since Isle of Wight council started reducing funding of services to beaches, as they have their funding cut by central government.
Sandown & Shanklin Independent Lifeboat
The town council was keen to point out that the RNLI will be there as Lifeguards, not to conflict with the work of the town’s of Sandown & Shanklin Independent Lifeboat.
Ed Stevens, RNLI Lifeguard Manager told the BBC:
“Building on the expertise we have developed through 14 years of providing beach patrols elsewhere on the UK’s coast, we hope to become a welcome addition to the Sandown community.”
Image: letsgoout-bournemouthandpoole under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license
