The Skegness Standard broadcasted live from the RNLI Station ahead of the lifeguards return to Lincolnshire beaches.
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00:00 How would you spend ÂŁ20 million? That is a question we are asking in today's edition of the Scotland Standard newspaper.
00:11 Now I met with Towns R, Adam Hawkesby, earlier this week and he told me how important it is for the community to have a say on how this money is spent.
00:22 Now details on how you can have your say are in today's edition. But today we are delighted to be broadcasting from the lifeboat at the RNLI station in Skegness
00:36 because it is quite a busy week for the RNLI as you will also see from our headlines today. Now I am with lifeguard supervisor Aaron Gray and our town citizen as well, only citizen, Trevor Holland, who we will be having a chat to later.
00:58 Aaron, I came and joined you didn't I on Monday when you were busy training with your new lifeguards for the coast. How is that going?
01:10 Yeah good, so this week we are training, as you said, passing all the fitness tests and teaching the lifeguards, just refreshing their skills for the beaches opening on Saturday.
01:19 I mean it was quite a gruelling fitness test wasn't it? 400 metres in 7 minutes?
01:26 7 and a half.
01:27 7 and a half minutes! I'll have to give them that 30 seconds.
01:30 Yeah so they all passed comfortably, which is good, so they are just past fit, ready for the sea.
01:35 And then you were on the beach sort of late that night weren't you?
01:38 Yeah so they have been in the sea. Last night we were training with the coast guards, sort of meeting them and seeing how we can work together in things.
01:45 And today we have got quad bike training and other bits of fitness and then tomorrow is first aid, so they are all good to go on Saturday.
01:51 Right, so everyone is back on Saturday. Which beaches are they going to be on?
01:55 Skagenäs and Leverthorpe to start with, so they will be on patrol every day even if the weather is like this, wet and there is no one out, they will still be there.
02:02 If the weather doesn't improve you might have a slow start.
02:05 Hopefully it's not a repeat of last year but hopefully the sun will come out.
02:09 Yeah, was it bad last year?
02:11 Pretty wet, yeah.
02:13 Ah well, yeah, well it does give sun, we will be talking to Dina about that later.
02:20 So for all the people coming to the beach, what tips for safety would you give them?
02:25 So the lifeguards will be there from 10 o'clock until 6, so if you are going to go for a swim, try and stick to those hours.
02:31 And there will be two flags up, red and yellow, and that's the safest place to swim.
02:34 So if you go in between them, that's the area the lifeguards are watching.
02:38 Okay, so I know you've got lots of training to do today, so we're going to let you go.
02:46 And thank you for joining us today and I hope the season goes well.
02:50 I'm sure we'll be chatting.
02:52 Sure we will.
02:54 Okay, so Trevor, welcome and congratulations on being a Towns Ombudsman.
03:01 We spoke didn't we at the Council meeting when you got your award.
03:06 What does it mean to you?
03:08 Well, I think it came as a bit of a surprise altogether that the Town Council so kindly nominated me and gave me that award.
03:16 But I'm quite surprised at the impact of it.
03:19 Lots of people have been in contact with me from all over the country as the media has spread out.
03:24 So it is quite an important thing, it's quite a rare thing, so I am very, very honoured.
03:29 There's only about 16 names I think on that board. The last name is John Byford and I believe he's in Bad Gadgins at Shire.
03:40 Our twin town at the moment is spreading the word about how wonderful Skatenest is.
03:46 It is all about service to the town, isn't it?
03:49 I think that's the idea of it, isn't it? It's just a longevity and continued service, as you said, to the town, yes.
03:57 And you have family members on that board as well?
04:02 We do. My father, who was a Coxswain here from 1965 to... I can't quite remember.
04:10 My father was a Coxswain, although they're not on the board, my grandfather was a launcher post First World War, when they were the horses.
04:18 My cousin from Grantham purchased the Skatenest high LB and several of the cousins are involved around the coast.
04:27 Yeah, yeah, so I know you were quite proud of that, on that night.
04:33 But your colleagues here, are they treating you any different?
04:37 Well, I can't say that they haven't taken the mickey out of me a little, but yeah, I mean I'm grateful to them as well for all the years that they've supported me.
04:45 It's just one big team, it's like the RNLI all the way from the shop people, the fundraisers, we're all volunteers but we're all one team in the RNLI.
04:55 Now, as we said, it is a busy week for the RNLI and it's a special year as well.
05:02 Absolutely, so this year marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Royal National Rifle Institution.
05:10 So that's a massive expense of time really when you think about it.
05:15 Skatenest I think was originally in the Lincolnshire Shipwreck Association, then amalgamated with the RNLI, so even we've been going a long, long time saving lives.
05:24 Right, so, and you've got the busy season to start with.
05:28 Potentially, it's one of those things that you're never quite sure when it's going to be busy and when it's not.
05:34 Well there is a May Day as people can hear coming in the background, we weren't sure whether...
05:40 We were a little nervous weren't we, to begin with.
05:42 How long we've got, but hopefully everything's fine.
05:46 Now, as it is the anniversary, something special is happening on Friday, can you just tell us about that?
05:52 Well as part of the celebrations and the promotion of the RNLI, a scroll is coming round all the stations around the coast via an electric van, I believe.
06:02 So it can be signed, so it's just a celebration of what all the various areas of the country have done over all the years,
06:08 and all the support we've been given by the public and the councils etc. over the years.
06:13 Yeah, I understand it's going to be here all day and the public can come along and see it.
06:19 So I think it's a parchment scroll which is going to be inscribed I believe.
06:23 Whoever's signing it has got to have a practice haven't they, before they actually sign the scroll.
06:28 Rather than just a cross, we don't want that do we?
06:30 I know, I know. Well thank you so much for coming and I hope you have a quiet day, it sounds like it might be getting busy.
06:39 May I just add one little thing, just one word of advice please.
06:42 One great thing to think about for anybody coming to the sea or any stretch of water, as Aaron said earlier,
06:49 swim if you must, wear the lifeguards on you, but also we're promoting float to live.
06:55 This is lying on your back in a starfish shape, with your head tilted back, with the ears almost in the water.
07:04 This will help you float. You can float, slow down the breathing, calm, relax.