We are proud to support the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) through a donation from our Volunteer Heroes Fund. This donation is aimed to support their Project Recovery following pool closures as a result of covid.
RLSS UK has a proud history of helping to reduce the number of lives lost to drowning. With a mission to be the leader in lifesaving and lifeguarding by sharing expertise and knowledge, they educate and train young people through a network of voluntary lifesaving groups.
During the recent pandemic, RLSS UK has been able to digitally train more than 20,000 5–16-year-olds. But over 110,000 young people have not had access to the practical services provided by the local groups. In addition, 1 million children have not been able to access statutory school swimming and as a result, the work carried out by the RLSS UK voluntary lifesaving groups is even more vital.
The average running cost for a group for a term is around £600 and therefore the donation Ruth Lee Ltd has provided is the equivalent of supporting 8 lifesaving groups to deliver lifesaving programmes for one term.
Lee Heard, Director of People, Membership and Partnerships at RLSS UK said,
“Through a network of 350 voluntary lifesaving groups, RLSS UK educate and train people so we can provide them with a vital lifesaving skill as well as provide a valued community service that aids resilience, citizenship and encourages physical and mental wellbeing.
Due to COVID-19, local groups have been significantly impacted and so this generosity from Ruth Lee will go a long way to helping groups recover and provide a much-valued local lifesaving service.”
Ruth Lee Ltd is the world-leading manufacturer of rescue training manikins, including a specialist manikin for training lifeguards which was developed with the assistance of RLSS UK. Designed to sink but retain enough buoyancy to float whilst being towed, it is transforming lifeguard training around the world by providing a complete end-to-end rescue training tool.
We operate an annual social commitment project called Volunteer Heroes which aims to provide financial support to rescue teams worldwide. Therefore, it was a natural step for us to support the RLSS UK., as we are dedicated to helping teams to improve their rescue training and ultimately save more lives through enhanced skills.
Managing Director at Ruth Lee Ltd, Paul McDonnell said,
“We are proud to support the fantastic work carried out by the RLSS UK’s volunteer lifesaving groups through a donation from our Volunteer Heroes fund. Our company values include doing good work wherever we can – and supporting a charity such as the RLSS UK certainly falls under that category!
In our day-to-day business, we are committed to delivering training products which help rescuers train to be the best and we are aware that increased pressure will be placed on lifeguards in the coming months as the public ‘stay-cation’ instead of travelling abroad. By supporting the RLSS UK’s voluntary network, we hope that even more lives can be saved.”