Exmouth's National Coastwatch Institution team is inviting the public to attend a drowning prevention day and find out more about keeping family and friends safe around water.
This is a collaborative event between the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS), NCI and The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) water safety team.

The event is being co-ordinated by Karen Goldby who said: "Every year the RLSS promotes a drowning prevention week, where we reach out to members of the public to promote water safety.

"This year has been difficult because of covid restrictions; so much of it has had to been done online. As a member of both NCI and The RLSS, I saw an opportunity for the organizations to work together along with the RNLI water safety team.

"The outdoor space by Coastwatch House is in a prominent seafront position and hopefully visitors and locals alike will stop and take the opportunity to learn more about the local conditions, the rescue services and water safety. NCI Exmouth have kindly agreed to allow the use of this space for the day."
The three organisations will set up outside Coastwatch house on Queen's Drive, next to The Harbour View cafe, on June 19 between 10am and 4pm. If rain and wind stop play, the reserve date will be June 26
The RNLI offer a lifejacket check, to ensure your lifejacket fits properly and is effective. This service will be available but will be instructional rather than hands on due to covid restrictions.
There will be free colouring sheets for the children, wrist bands, demonstrations of rescue equipment and most importantly information on local hazards , what to do in the case of an emergency and advice on how to keep you and the family safe on the beach and in the water.

NCI Exmouth was established in 1998 and is part of the region’s search-and-rescue capability. It is part of the National Coastwatch Institution that celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. It was the UK’s second busiest station in 2020.
NCI Exmouth’s Queen’s Drive lookout is manned by some 65 volunteer watchkeepers. As well as listening out for Mayday calls, NCI Exmouth assists mariners by providing them with the facility to check that their radio is working before they commence a journey. It operates on VHF Channel 65, with the call sign ‘Exmouth NCI’. It also provides reports of in-shore weather conditions. NCI Exmouth is on watch every day. In an emergency, officers are on-call outside of these hours.
For further information on the organisations involved please go to the following websites:
https://exmouthcoastwatch.co.uk/