Thames Valley Swimming Awards Lifesaving History
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows between Wiltshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire and West London. It does not include the source of the Thames at Thames Head in Kemble, Gloucestershire, nor central London or the outflowing of the Thames into the Thames Estuary.
The phrase Thames Valley Region is sometimes used interchangaebly with M4 Corridor which denotes the route of the M4 motorway which travels through many of the same counties but on a more southernly course and extending far beyond the Thames Valley into South Wales.
The Thames Valley region is a major tourist destination in the United Kingdom, both for domestic and international tourists. Some major attractions include:
- Henley on Thames
- The City of Oxford
- Windsor Castle
Policing
The Thames Valley Police cover the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Other forces cover the rest of the Thames Valley region.
Major towns and cities
- Bracknell
- High Wycombe
- Maidenhead
- Newbury
- Oxford
- Reading
- Slough
- Swindon
Universities
- Oxford Brookes University
- Oxford University
- Reading University
- Thames Valley University
Swimming Lessons
Swimming lessons is the process of learning to swim. In most countries there is a definition of a number of swimming levels that is reached in the process of the curriculum. The respective certificates of swimming tests are required for further training in aquatic abilities. Many countries have defined a minimum swimming level that children should reach by the end of primary education, in most cases with the help of school swimming classes being part of the normal curriculum.
Children are often given swimming lessons, which serve to develop swimming technique and confidence. Children generally do not swim independently until 4 years of age.
In the UK, the "Top-ups scheme" calls for school children who cannot swim by the age of 11 to receive intensive daily lessons. These children who have not reached Great Britain's National Curriculum standard of swimming 25 metres by the time they leave primary school will be given a half-hour lesson every day for two weeks during term-time.
Lifeguard
A lifeguard is a person responsible for overseeing the safety of the users of a body of water and its environs, such as a swimming pool, a water park, or a beach. This differentiates them from life savers who partake in similar activities as a sport or practical life skill. Lifeguards are qualified strong swimmers, trained and certified in water rescue, using a variety of aids and equipment depending on requirements of their particular venue, and first aid. In some areas, lifeguards may form part of the provided emergency services response to incidents and in some communities, the lifeguard service also carries out mountain rescues, or may function as the primary EMS provider.
A lifeguard has a given responsibility for the safety of people (and in some cases property) in an area of water, and usually a defined area immediately surrounding or adjacent to it, such as a beach next to an ocean. Their priority is to ensure no harm comes to users of the area for which they are responsible. Lifeguards often take on this responsibility as an employment, although lifeguards can also be volunteers.
The conditions that allow drowning to occur can be summarised by the 'drowning chain', in which each link can lead directly to an incident, or can lead on to the next link, and is shown below. It consists of people having a lack of education (e.g. about water safety or local conditions), a lack of safety advice (e.g. about rip currents at a beach) a lack of protection (e.g. no floatation device for a weak swimmer), lack of safety supervision (e.g. from a family member or lifeguard) or an inability to cope (e.g. strong surf with a weak swimmer).