Sponsors needed to keep vital Ilfracombe sea safety lessons for children going next year

One Ilfracombe is looking for sponsors to continue its successful Into The Blue project which helps local children get into the water and learn vital lessons about sea safety.

Since April the free scheme has provided lessons for almost 200 local junior school children, laying on activities in the water, raising awareness of the sea and its dangers and running safety sessions.

One Ilfracombe Project Officer Neil Ingram said: “Contrary to popular belief, not all children born by the coast are water babies. Fear of the water, coupled with a lack of sea awareness and knowledge can make the sea a dangerous place, but this doesn't need to be the case.

“It has been wonderful to see them develop and the laughter levels have been off the chart! We have had fantastic support to get this year's Into The Blue up and running, but now we need more funding to make this project sustainable so more of our local children can benefit.”

The project is part of the Ilfracombe Junior School curriculum and has been delivered by working with local activity providers (Coastal Swim Coaching, H2Outdoors and Active Escapes), Ilfracombe RNLI and the Ilfracombe Watersports Hub.

Partially funded by North Devon Council through an allocation of government's Shared Prosperity Fund, organiser One Ilfracombe is now appealing for organisations to come forward to sponsor the project to and enable it to continue when current funding expires later in June.

A large proportion of the £28,000 required came from grant funding from The Children's Alliance and Fullabrook Community Interest Company, with additional funding from Active Devon and North Devon Council.

It has given every Year 5 and 6 pupil at the school the opportunity to take part in activities built into their weekly lessons, which included sea safety and awareness, stand up paddle boarding, coasteering, kayaking and team building activities.

It was run over a rolling six week period that started on April 22 and runs until Friday, June 13 at the Ilfracombe Watersports Hub.

Ilfracombe harbourmaster Georgina Carlo-Paat said: "Water safety is so much more than just knowing how to swim in a swimming pool. It’s learning how to swim in cold water and how your body responds to changing temperatures, learning about local tides and how they can sweep you out to sea, learning how to get out of trouble when on a paddleboard or kayak, are all part of the skills the children have been learning.

“The most wonderful thing has been the sound of laughter coming from Larkstone Cove as the children learn not to be afraid of the water, and gain the skills and knowledge to keep themselves and others safe.”

For more information about Into the Blue, or to express an interest in providing funding to next year's project, please contact Neil Ingram by emailing neil.ingram@northdevon.gov.uk or Charmain Lovett on charmain.lovett@northdevon.gov.uk.