The Rhondda Lifeguard Club has been nominated for the Queens Award for Voluntary Services after 50 years of saving lives on Barry’s beaches.
The group, made up of 50 volunteers from the Rhondda Valley, is based on Cold Knap Point overlooking Watchtower Bay in Barry. They provide lifeguard cover for the surrounding beaches as well as training in lifeguarding skills for young people.
Vale MP Alun Cairns, who nominated the club for the award, said that he is doing so to thank them for their “continuous service” to Barry in his constituency.
He said, “The local community is very grateful for the continuous service of the Rhonda Lifeguard Club over the last half-century, with scores of lived saved in the waters surrounding Barry.
“This purely voluntary organisation has done a fantastic job of protecting water-users and doesn’t cease in its efforts to engage young people with lifeguarding and staying safe at sea.”
While visiting the club on Friday last week Mr Cairns was presented with an inspirational book on the history of the lifeguards, the title of which explains why the Rhonda club is based in the Vale of Glamorgan. It is called, “No beaches in the Rhondda”.
At a time when the danger of the sea has made itself known through six deaths over the last weekend, beach users in Barry can bathe with more confidence knowing that the well-trained and well-equipped Rhonda volunteers are watching over them. The lifeguard club has saved 106 lives in its fifty year history and hopes to prevent many more drownings into the future.