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A Brief History of the RLSS Wessex Branch The Wessex Branch is comprised of the counties of Dorset, Hampshire and southern Wiltshire. Prior to its establishment, there was plenty of local Lifesaving activity, with nationally appointed examiners, keen individual members and Clubs dealing direct with RLSS HQ, then situated at Desborough House, London. In 1959 Norman Carter (First Branch President, 1962) from Salisbury was asked by Captain Hale, the RLSS Chief Secretary, to explore the possibility of forming the Branch. The inaugural meeting was held at Bournemouth Police Station on 6th February 1960 with Captain Hale in attendance. Fifty local RLSS members attended, from whom the Executive Committee was formed, and the Wessex Branch became operative on 1st May 1960. In those days the members of the police, armed services and teaching profession were the core supporters of the Society. Almost all swimming was conducted in the open air with the awards assessed by Examiners known by some as the Blue Blazer Brigade, for the obvious reason. In October 1966, the committee was asked to encourage the formation of Life Guard Corps within the Branch. A copy of the rules of the Portsmouth & Southsea Voluntary Life Guard Corps, the Branch’s only flourishing Club at that time, was presented to the committee. At a Branch meeting in December 1968, the President (Richard Skipton) welcomed members of the Society from Somerset and Thames Valley who were soon to form their own Branches. Towards the end of the 1960s, several schools and clubs (with access to indoor pools) were gaining more than 100 awards in a single year, while Chantmarle Police Training School were gaining as many as 1000 awards per year. When the 1969 Annual Report was published, there were more than 130 Examiners listed and in that same year, the Branch supported the setting up of the Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service in conjunction with St John Ambulance. The official launching of their first craft, an innovative RIB purchased from Atlantic College, Glamorgan, was in March 1970. In its first 10 years, the Branch had gained 10,000 Bronze Medallion awards, and averaged almost 4,300 awards per year, and during 1973, the Branch recorded 50,000 awards since its establishment. The first Branch Competition was held in 1970 with the following winners: Men - Charley Case, Bournemouth; Ladies - Caroline Dear, Southampton. Both Boys & Girls competitions were won by Bridgemary County Secondary School, Gosport. About this time Terry Houlihan, a teacher at the Bridgemary School was developing a prototype rescue aid which we now know as the ubiquitous RLSS Torpedo Buoy. The mid '70s were a golden period for competitions. In 1973 Bournemouth Police Cadets were National Cadet Champions, with the Men & Women, coming 2nd in their Police Championships. In 1974, Elaine Roper from Bournemouth became the RLSS National Ladies Champion. Bournemouth Men were National Lifeguard Champions and the Ladies 2nd, and St Mary’s Gate School came 2nd in the National Girls School Championships. In 1976, Henry Harbin School, Poole became the RLSS National Boys School Champions. In 1977 Wessex Branch was represented by Bournemouth, Poole & Portsmouth in the National Lifeguard Finals, and both Portsmouth Boys & Girls Cadet teams won their Championships, while Bournemouth came second in each. In 1974, J.C. Alderson, QPM, (formerly a police officer in Dorset & Wessex Branch President, 1966) became the RLSS National President. Roy Trenchard was instrumental in the introduction of the Open Water Certificate in 1972, which was the fore runner of RLSS Open Water Awards. By 1980 the Society HQ had moved from London to, Studley, Warwickshire, to premises named after Lord Mountbatten, one time Grand President of the RLSS. He lived at Broadlands, Romsey, therefore theoretically making him a Wessex Branch member. Prior to his untimely death, quite frequently Lord Mountbatten could be seen watching Romsey LSC in action on club night. Also in 1980, John Howes, Bournemouth, (Branch President, 1989-90) then Wessex Chief Examiner was awarded the MBE, in part for his work for the RLSS. By the end of 1981, the Branch had gained almost 87,000 awards in two decades, but in 1981 there was a move to split the Branch with Hampshire forming one part, and Dorset & Wiltshire the other. Wise counsel, most especially by Ken White (Branch President, 1981-2, and RLSS UK National President 1998 to 2004) won the day for retaining the Branch in its original form. At this time, the Leeds Permanent Building Society provided sponsorship nationally and also helped out Wessex Branch, in particular the Branch Competition and in 1983, the RLSS National ‘Water Watch’ competition, also sponsored by the Leeds, saw Romsey School selected as the best Senior Level entry. In 1985 a successful Water Safety Project was run by the Manpower Services Commission in the Hampshire area of the Branch, aimed at providing ‘back to work’ opportunities for long term unemployed people who were trained to teach water safety in schools; the ‘Leeds’ also providing useful practical and financial support to the project. Francis Horne, Bournemouth won the Women’s National Lifesaving Championship, and Wessex Branch gained its 100,000 award. The average during the 3rd decade was more than 4500 awards per year. 1986 saw the end of the Elementary & Intermediate Awards, being replaced by Life Saving 1, 2 & 3. During this time, nationally the RLSS was being led by Brian Morrissey OBE, QPM, Wessex Branch member and former South Region Chairman and by 1998, RLSS HQ had moved to River House in Broom, Warwickshire. 1991 was the Centenary Year of the RLSS. Wessex Branch celebrated with approximately 40 events held across the Branch, including flower displays, stands at shows, carnival floats, open days, and competitions. The Centenary Bronze Medallion was well received, with a total of 1944 successful candidates during the year; the highest number of Bronze Medallions achieved in a single year by the Branch. 1992 was the Diamond Jubilee of the Lifeguards, which was celebrated at Calshot Activities Centre on Southampton Water. The formation of the first Branch Lifeguard Club was begun by Harry Hicks in Portsmouth in the latter part of 1992, with the inaugural AGM of the held in October 1993. Portsmouth & Southsea Voluntary Lifeguard Corps celebrated their Diamond Jubilee during 1993 with two lifeguard competitions, one with the current rules, the other with 1933 rules and dress of the day. In June 1995, the BBC ‘999 Roadshow’ visited Poole with Di Standley (Branch Chairman 1995–2001, Chief Executive Officer RLSS UK 2001+) as the principal trainer. Jackie Hoyle (Branch President 2007-8) was organiser of a massive team of trainers and back up teams who, in one weekend, trained 1000 members of the public in basic resuscitation and first aid skills. More ‘999 Roadshows’ were run in 1996 at various UK venues (Winchester 1116 members of the public trained), organised by Jackie Hoyle which lead to her being awarded the National ‘Brian Morrissey Outreach Trophy’ in 1997. The '90s saw the Wessex Branch averaging over 5600 awards per year, and in 1998 the Awards & Sales Officer received assessment forms from the members of Ridgemede School Swimming Association to take the Wessex Branch total of Bronze Medallions over the 50,000 mark. In the 40 years covered by this potted history, 181,715 awards have been recorded by Wessex Branch, an average of more than 83 awards per week. The Bronze Medallion total of 51,106 is almost 35 medallions per week. With these figures, we have a right to feel proud of all the many people who over the years have been our instructors, teachers, examiners, assessors, tutors, mentors, helpers, administrators, etc, at all levels of involvement in the Wessex Branch. Many things have been left out from the Branch records. One area that seems under-represented is the work of the RLSS Lifeguards. The majority of awards gained by the Lifeguards are dealt with by RLSS HQ, and Wessex Branch has limited records of their award achievements. However, there are plenty of reports by the Clubs throughout the years. One involved over two pages of typing about a marvellous, involved rescue and recovery of a sinking vessel by the Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service in 1983. Another involved the whole of the Bournemouth Lifeguards on duty during an afternoon in 1987 when 82 persons were given assistance over four hours. I hope you think that the following report is a fitting tribute to their work. “2nd Aug: Time 1310: Duration 80 minutes: Speedboat sinking, beached: 4 persons assisted.” In itself it is not glamorous, little detail is given and little excitement is roused. It does not identify any individual or Club, but the report sums up what Lifeguards do - they train for trouble, - look for trouble, - and deal with trouble And they do it over and over again, year in and year out, big or small, voluntarily.
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