SWIM UK’s new beach lifeguard course started this week on Brighton Beach with 11 intrepid candidates learning about surf rescues and beach first aid and entering a sea of only 11 degrees!

The course is the National Vocational Beach Lifeguard qualification and the 11 candidates – some who travelled from as far Scotland to be on the course – will be learning an entirely new beach lifeguard programme developed by both the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and the Royal Life Saving Society.

Swim UK’s course is the first to be held in the UK.

The course has been taking place between the sea and the Brighton Swimming Centre.

The six-day course is to build fitness and complete several challenging timed sprint runs and swims before towing a casualty to safety on shore and administering CPR.

The training programme is both physically and mentally demanding and is designed to prepare swimmers to be employed as professional lifeguards in beaches around the UK from May onwards and concludes with a rigorous sea based assessment.

Paul Smith MD of Swim UK, said: “It’s a real honour to be the first to offer this new course.

“The candidates and tutors are giving their all to make this a success.

“We will be running this course regularly moving forward.

“We want to make to make Brighton a key place one of the key lifeguards training centres in the UK.”

If anyone is interested in finding out about future courses they should call Swim UK on 01273 434400 option 2 or go to www.swimuk.co.uk.