St Edmundsbury Life Saving Club

In 1985 (I believe) Suffolk Branch was asked by St Edmundsbury Borough Council whether there was anything we could suggest that would improve community values, and naturally a Lifesaving Club was the answer. I was working in Bury at the time and was directed to look at the opportunities and challenges involved.

After discussion with the Leisure Centre, agreement was arrived at for the use of the pool on a Sunday evening. They already offered a Bronze Medallion Course through one of their staff (Mr Fred Windsor) assisted by Mike Grainger. We were to take this over and broaden the training offered through an RLSS registered Club.

Fred and Mike were invited to join our teaching team, Fred declined but Mike became a very valuable resource. I brought in two more teachers with experience teaching lifesaving elsewhere in Suffolk: Alan Wickham from Ipswich LSC, having recently moved to Bury, and Sarah Sheridan from Deben LSC. We were given some financial support from Branch for basic equipment and loaned resuscitation manikins.

The first open night in 1986 was very busy with probably 50 people wanting to see what we could offer. We started with two Bronze Medallion courses and some youngsters for "Life Saving 1", this the forerunner to "Rookie". After a few years we were training a range of awards including Pool Bronze Medallion. One of the Lifeguards on this early class was a contrary young man who insisted on being called "George".

A hard core of lifesavers from our club (George, Rick, Paul, Julian and others) took the County by force of personality, getting involved with Lifesaving Competitions (always good for meeting girls), Beach Lifeguarding (always good for meeting girls) and events with other clubs. Rookie took off after its national launch and we had very close ties to Waveney's Rookies and attended their Beach events every year until they were discontinued.

We have had our problems with Water. The centre has been unavailable to us several times for long periods. Sometimes this was planned, sometimes not. But we have always managed to survive due in no small measure to our members and committee.

Bob Myles.

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