River & Sea Sense - Water Safety

5* Christmas Party/Bollywood Fundraiser

site-admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:35:14 +0000

The River and Sea Sense Christmas fundraiser will be held on the 30th Novemeber 2012 7:30pm at Plas Maenan Country House Hotel.

There will be a Curry supper, Bollywood dance performance and an interactive dance session by Bollywood Burnout company!

Tickets are £22 per person.

Book now on 07879 648568

or for more information call River and Sea Sense on 01492 870600

Event – ORME Challenge 2012

site-admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:44:18 +0000

The event is a physical challenge that has been designed to accommodate people of all physical disciplines. The event will include canoeing around the Orme once, cycling around it four times and then running around it twice. The total distance will be approximately 70km. To ensure we get as many people as possible to join in the fundraising activities

Canoeist’s will leave North Shore @ approximately 1000 and head around the Orme
The walkers will follow the canoeist’s around the Orme
There will be a transition station located Westshore

The aim of this event is to raise in excess of £ 3000 to ….

Deliver FREE life saving training to children
Delivery river and sea safety advice to schools throughout the UK – target for 2013 is 10,000 children
Raise money for Kyle to him deal with Cerebral Palsy – http://www.facebook.com/KylesMiracleWish
Help support 20 local children on a leadership seminar in 2013

Water Wise Course

site-admin — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:59:12 +0000

WATER WISE COURSE

9:30 – Arrive at IRTCW http://www.irtcw.co.uk/

- Welcome and Introduction to the day’s program

9:45 – Presentation by Debbie Turnbull – River and Sea Sense

10:45 – COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – Presentation by David Jones (Director of Training, IRTCW)

Submerged Water Detection Dogs

11:30 – Presentation by IRTCW’s instructors

Water Awareness Course, Basic Water Responder Course and Real Life Rescue Situations – How the local rescue teams train and respond

12:00 – Presentation by Debbie Turnbull – River and Sea Sense

12:30 – LUNCHTIME

- Lunch will be provided by River and Sea Sense

13:15 – Nature Reserve car park Abergwyngregyn Nature Reserve

13:30 – Students will be accompanied by School staff, IRTCW instructors on a short walking journey around the foreshore Nature Reserve where the emphasis will be to provide the young people with an opportunity to engage in group activity whilst learning how to be safe near shallow slow moving river water and tidal estuary, and how to respond in a safe and effective way in helping raise an alarm if they needed to help some one who had entered the water by accident.

15:30 – Return to IRTCW Centre for Debrief

16:00 – Finish

EVENT – Hooray For Bollywood

site-admin — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 14:01:57 +0000

RAISE A GRAND FOR RIVER AND SEA SENSE

On the 28th September the fabulous Gaz Jabeen with her lovely and fantastic dancers from – Bollywood Burnout will be performing her wonderful Bollywood Dancing to help RASS raise a much needed £1000.00

RAISE A GRAND FOR RIVER AND SEA SENSE

Hooray For Bollywood

- from 7.30 pm

Tickets are £18.00 to include curry or vegetarian option.

Further information to follow x

https://www.facebook.com/events/280868268684888/ - Information On The Hooray For Bollywood.

Keeping you up to date…

site-admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:25:00 +0000

This has been a very busy week, We have been doing alot of work on the website and attending alot off meetings, And spoke to alot off people, about making River and sea sense World-wide

Thank you for Reading this, we will keep you updated On what we Intend to do next.

Diolch Yn fawr

Aaron Beacher.

BIG LOTTERY WALES – Podcast – Debbie Turnbull Speaks

site-admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:39:29 +0000

This is the podcast of my conversation with Oswyn Hughes – The Big Lottery x

http://soundcloud.com/biglotteryfund/debbie-turnbulls-podcast

Thank you for listening x x

The Big Lottery in Wales feature RASS in National PR Campaign for Water Safety

site-admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:29:44 +0000

The Big Lottery in Wales have last year funded River And Sea Sense with just under £5000.00

Recently they contacted us to feature the work of River And Sea Sense on a National basis on their websites and also to use RASS to launch their first Podcast in Wales.

Says Debbie " I was so shocked but pleased we were offered this wonderful opportunity to promote our work"

Please see story below x

North Wales who lost her only child in a drowning accident is using a Big Lottery Fund grant to raise awareness about river and sea safety- just in time for the school holidays.
On August 14 2006, Debbie Turnbull from Llandudno lost her 15 year old son, Chris, in a drowning accident on the river Conwy, North Wales. Chris had been playing with friends and was completely unaware that he was swimming in a danger spot at Lligwy Falls in Capel Curig.

Since then, Debbie has vowed to do everything in her power to prevent another family going through the same nightmare. Following the recent spell of bad weather and the loss of yet more lives on Welsh rivers this summer, Debbie is using a grant of nearly £5,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme to run a project which aims to educate more children about the dangers of playing in and around rivers.
Since Chris’s death, Debbie set up her own organisation in Llandudno called River and Sea Sense, and speaks to thousands of children in schools across the country every year. And with the summer holidays on the horizon, the money from BIG will be used to promote river and sea safety by enabling more volunteers to make presentations to schools, youth groups, scouts and cadets in North Wales- predominantly in the Conwy area.
The project consists of a variety of water safety awareness courses coupled with lifesaving and emergency training. Level 1 is rolling out at present to primary age schoolchildren and the feedback is immense from parents, teachers and the young people according to Debbie.
Level 1 comprises of the group of twelve pupils being taken to an outdoor training centre where they are instructed by Swift Water Trainers on basic water safety awareness. They then have a session with Debbie as she tells her story and takes them on a ‘spot the dangers exercise’ to Aber Falls, which highlights many ‘what if’ scenarios. They also get to meet and see the rescue dogs in action and are shown how the emergency services work.
“There is nothing like this programme anywhere that brings both fun and education and ‘real life’ experience into the equation,” says Debbie.
“We will progress up to level 5 which we will then gain accreditation for and can offer the courses to colleges and any age group interested in whatever level.”
“The project will also include further educational slots regarding river safety and will include visits to specific areas of river danger spots and a tour of the Mountain Rescue Base HQ whenever possible.”

David Jones of International Rescue Training Centre Wales says: “Debbie has an extremely captivating manner and gets her message across in a powerful and influential way that these young people just don’t forget.”
And this is certainly the most important time of the year to be educating families about safety around rivers according to Debbie, who has also developed the UK’s first ever water safety map, a pioneering online tool which highlights all the danger spots in rivers throughout the UK.
“With the schools about to break up for the summer holidays and due to the atrocious weather conditions we are experiencing at the moment, it’s even more prevalent that we discuss safety around rivers”, she explains.
“That’s the reason my son died. He went to Capel Curig with friends as he had been doing all year. We had a torrential downpour which created a waterfall. He was sucked into a whirlpool and his foot got trapped and he never came back up.”
“It’s been a terrible mental journey. It’s shock and it’s absolute horror when you are told the news. Unless people have lived through something like this, it’s impossible to imagine. There’s nothing worse than losing a child and that’s why I do what I do now. Chris was my best friend and absolute soul mate. He was my life.”
It was the loss of Chris which drove Debbie to set up River and Sea Sense: “I started this project three weeks after my son died and I’ve spoken to 62,000 children since then,” she says.
“From the talks I’ve given, it’s shocking the lack of knowledge people have about safety near water. Through this project and by educating people, I’m aiming to save as many lives as possible. The project justifies the way I feel, but I know it will never bring Chris back.”
“When I hear about people being swept away on the news now, it brings it all back to me. Every time I hear about another incident on TV or Radio, it’s like it was yesterday and I’m back in that place where I was.”

Debbie’s safety message to people this summer is clear: “Don’t let your children out of your sight and don’t underestimate the power of the water,” she says.
“If you are anywhere where there are mountains and a river this summer, what you need to be aware of is that it doesn’t matter how hot it is that day – the temperature of the river coming down from the mountain is as cold as your fridge at home. And that’s the easiest way of putting it. It’s completely different to the atmosphere outside. And people also need to realise that the river banks are being eroded, especially in these weather conditions, so they need to be very careful when they are walking on the river edge as the ground could be unstable and they could fall in. A year after my son died, another little boy died further downstream from where Chris drowned. He was just going for a walk with his mother and he slipped in and drowned. They saw him being swept away and there was nothing they could do.”
She added: “You also need to be aware of rip currents – because they literally rip your life away from you. You can also get trapped in rocks under the water, which is what happened to Chris.”
Encouraging more groups in Wales to apply for funding, Gareth Williams, Awards for All Programme Manager for the Big Lottery Fund in Wales, said: “This project is a prime example of how small amounts of money can make a big difference to the lives of people in communities most in need. That’s why we are urging more community groups and projects to take full advantage of and reap the rewards from this programme.”
He added: “Our message is simple - if a community group has an idea for a project which supports community activity, extends access and participation, increases skill and creativity or generally improves the quality of life of people in their area, then we definitely want to hear from them.”
For further information about the Awards for All programme and how you can apply, visit www.awardsforall.org.uk or call 0845 4 10 20 30.
For further information about River and Sea Sense and how you could benefit, visit www.riverandseasense.com or email debbie@riverandseasense.com Debbie has also developed the national drowning and incident reporting system which can be accessed at www.watersafetymap.co.uk
BBC Capture Wales provided a programme whereby Debbie made her own short film which she wrote and produced and now shows this at all her presentations. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/yourvideo/media/pages/debbie_turnbull_01.shtml
The Water Safety Code - Have Fun, Stay Safe
1. Spot the dangers
Whenever you’re near water always take extra care:
• Never fool around or run besides water – you might trip and fall in
• Take care on the riverbank – it may be slippery and can crumble
• Keep away from the edge of canals – the water is often very deep
• Beware of locks and weirs – the water flows very quickly
2. Take safety advice
To be safe, choose a swimming pool or beach where there are lifeguards:
• Always follow the advice of a lifeguard – find out where and when it is safe to swim
• Look for signs or flags which tell you if it is safe to swim
• Never swim where a sign or flag tells you not to
3. Do not go alone
If you’re alone there will be no-one to help you if you get into trouble in the water
• Never go swimming, fishing or boating on your own
• Go with a friend who can help you if you’re in trouble in difficult water – even if they cannot help you out, they can get help
• Always make sure a grown-up known where you are going and when you will be back
4. Learn how to help
If you see someone in trouble in the water, here’s how you can help:
• Keep calm – always think before you act
• Try to get help – shout “help, help” as loud as you can
• Reach out with a stick, a pole, a towel or clothing to pull the person to the water’s edge – always lie down when you are trying to pull someone in so that you don’t get pulled in
• If you can’t reach the person and no-one comes when you shout for help, telephone 999 or 112 and ask for help
NEVER JUMP INTO THE WATER YOURSELF!
Big Lottery Fund Press Office – Oswyn Hughes: 02920 678 207
Out of hours contact: 07760 171 431
[/caption]G on Twitter: www.twitter.com/biglotterywales
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/biglotteryfundwales
Public Enquiries Line: 0300 123 0735
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out close to £100k a day in Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

New Volunteer For River And Sea Sense

site-admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:31:24 +0000

I am pleased to announce I now have a new volunteer for River And Sea Sense – Aaron Beacher attends John Bright school and when a close friend lost his life in a car accident Aaron after hearing the RASS presentation in his school became one of the young pupils desperate for some kind of support. We have been chatting for over 2 years now and Aaron through working through his own grief has now offered to volunteer for RASS. Aaron has a promising outlook and after only 2 weeks is showing great interest in the opportunity he has been offered. It is hoped that he will help encourage others to volunteer and support us – Thank you Aaron x

Nominet Support for Water Safety Mobile App

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:49:18 +0000

River and Sea Sense have been working with leading North Wales mobile app and web developers Livetech to create a mobile app to improve water safety awareness and in particular to highlight danger spots.

The ’Safetymap App’, currently in development due for release Summer 2012 will identify known water based accident black spot locations. It will use the location based services on the phone and also link to social networks. This app with be particularly aimed at young people who are most at risk from drowning. Using the GPS, bar code scanning from safety posters and online ‘check ins’ this promises to be a revolution in the way that information is shared about danger spots in a direct and timely way.

The Water Safety Map project offers various opportunities for companies to get involved through a range of sponsorship and PR opportunities and packages.

Supported by Nominet

This is an ambitious project which has been recognized by the Nominet Trust as having particular technical and social merit by being awarded a significant grant towards the cost of development. The app project will be a great asset to help River and Sense with its important work. The Nominet Trust are also supporting River and Sea Sense to get the most from the project, through various courses and mentoring opportunities.

River and Sea Sense Corporate Support PR Packages

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:31:18 +0000

River and Sea Sense Corporate Support PR Packages

We very much rely on donations to carry on our important safety education and awareness work. Below we have put together a couple of packages to facilitate recognition of your generous donation and share the well deserved news!

River and Sea Sense continues to be in the news with the proactive courses, schools visits and developing high profile, public projects such as the recent SafetyMap initiative supported by the Nominet Trust.

Package 1

Designed to recognize your work with River and Sea Sense.

a) Press Ready Photo

A press ready photo at your place of work or River and Sea Sense offices, with key River and Sea Sense staff and your team. This can be used for various purposes by River and Sea Sense or your for own internal/external publicity use.

b) Press Release

A press release written by River and Sea Sense, with key company and River and Sea Sense messages. Press release sent out to selected local editors for inclusion in newspapers (we have excellent relationships with the local and regional press). River and Sea Sense cannot guarantee inclusion but will back up this work with other well developed online/offline methods, see below.

c) Social Media Awareness

Blog Post with Press Release (optimized for search engines for your company name searches), ‘follow’ hyperlink to your web site, Facebook Status Update (linking to blog post) and Tweet with mention and link.

d) Framed Certificate

Certificate of thanks and acknowledgement for support in quality frame. Looks really fabulous in your reception area!

e) Web Site ‘Badge’
Permission to use a “Web Site Badge” as proud supporter of River and Sea Sense 2012 -13 on your own website.

Suggested Donation – £500 +
Your generous donation will allow River and Sea Sense to continue the valuable water safety education work, through school talks, awareness events and use of online and offline media assets.

Package 2

As Package 1 above, additionally with further media and sponsorship opportunities, as below.

Video Content

a) Professional web ready video with Debbie personally thanking the sponsor, includes company logo and pulling in still company publicity photo shots and from press release.
Company contact details included and web address.

Upload of video to River and Sea Sense Youtube Channel

Inclusion of video in social media awareness.

b) Opportunity to Sponsor a Named Course or Safety Sign
In additional to the important awareness work we do, there are opportunities to run special events, courses and put in safety signage.

c) Web Banners
Your web banner shown in rotation on the River and Sea Sense and Safetymap Websites, Link to your website.

Suggested Donation – £1000 + (depending on course/s supported)

Contribution at this level allows us to put in place specific named courses and awareness resources. These all contribute to greater enjoyment of the outdoors, active lifestyles and saving young lives.

Payment Methods
We understand that while companies want to support good causes they have to work around business needs, as a result we are happy to accept donations by standing order. Payment in full is always appreciated of course, as it allows our good work to be applied as quickly as possible.

Did You Know?
That £65 pays for one young person to do a Waterwise Course, £150 covers the cost of a school presentation/lesson which could address from 48 to 1400 students at any one time.

Water SafetyMap Featured on ITV News

admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:19:35 +0000

The Water SafetyMap initiative has been featured on ITV News. The article went into the history of Debbie’s work with schools and how the education work is being made available to thousands of more people through modern internet technology.

It is great to see Water SafetyMap getting this coverage and thanks to ITV for helping to raise awareness of water safety issues.

http://www.itv.com/wales/welsh-made-safety-map-pinpoints-dangerous-water-spots60128/

Building and Launching SafetyMap.co.uk

admin — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:24:50 +0000

SafetyMap Logo

SafetyMap.co.uk

Online resource to alert the public on dangers associated with various water based locations from River and Sea Sense.

SafetyMap is a response to the need identified for better public awareness of dangerous locations and the opportunity this presents for wider water safety education. The technology used is being applied from knowledge gained working with online mapping technologies for agencies such as the Police. The project outlined below is what we consider as Phase 1, putting in place all the required elements into a working system. There will be opportunity to develop the individual elements further based on user feedback and response from other water safety stakeholders.

Background

Often there are hidden dangers in a location that some people, especially young people, are not aware of. The resource will be the central point and database for a network of resources that will particularly appeal to young people – website, mobile phone app, social networks, signs with bar codes that can be scanned and an online mapping and alert system. There will be a section where it will be possible for the public to generate a printable sign with warnings and safety information. There will be an emphasis on education, to help young people make good decisions.

Home Page Mockup

The Plan

River and Sea Sense are currently developing an innovative water safety resource tool, ‘SafetyMap’ . The tool links locations where there have been water safety incidents together on a map for the first time, allowing the public to see where areas for concern are and be educated on the potential dangers at various locations.

Current accident statistics information reports are only available years later after official sources have collated them; this means that the public may not be aware of incidents that have happened in the last few years, particularly visitors to an area.

‘SafetyMap’ will use a technique called ‘Mashup’, this takes information from a variety of sources and puts it all in one place so that it is most useful. Another way of thinking about this is that information will be sourced from a number of existing resources and ‘presented in layers’ on an online map (for example using the well used Google Maps or similar to Google Earth). The various layers can be turned on or off to suit the information being sought and to present in as clear a fashion as possible.

SafetyMap.co.uk Powered by Google Maps

The current dated information accident data (type of accident, accident details, date, conditions etc) will be augmented with more up to date information sourced from the community using a mixture of ‘crowd sourcing’ techniques (where a wider community is encouraged to provide information using the internet) and River and Sea Sense manual input, via an online control panel. An important point will be that all ‘crowd sourced’ data will be validated by a River and Sea Sense (RASS) administrator, or network of volunteers. We feel the additional benefit of this system will be that for the first time it will be possible to include ‘non-fatal’ and ‘near miss’ accidents.

Going forward the site will take full advantage of social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, especially new developments like “Check-ins”, where a user’s smartphone can pull information based on its location from the built in GPS receiver. This will allow the public to be made aware that they are in proximity to a potentially dangerous location if they subscribe to an alert service. The social network users will also feed information through to the map on a real time basis, ready for moderation by SafetyMap administrators.

A facility to download a printable poster warning of the dangers of a particular location will be incorporated; the safety warning poster will have brief details of the previous incidents along with a link to full details online, via a web address and also QR codes to be read with smart phones.

Education is a core feature here as users are only able to make good choices regarding water safety following good information and awareness. The online part of the site will aim to be the most useful and usable source of water safety available, as well as a mobile phone app that can be downloaded to users phones containing water safety information.

Livetech Logo

Technical Details

Developed by Livetech using the most up to date technologies – www.livetech.co.uk .

Environment Agency Splash

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:35:12 +0000

Environment Agency Splash

Environment Agency Splash
www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Rhyl High School

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:30:48 +0000

Rhyl High School

Rhyl High School
www.rhylhigh.denbighshire.sch.uk

Emrys ap Iwan School

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:29:03 +0000

Emrys ap Iwan School

Emrys ap Iwan School
www.emrysapiwan.conwy.sch.uk