Sad drowning deaths

Come on, lets be reasonable. Eery death is a tragedy but for everyone who drowns by swimming recklessly in unsuitable water, hundreds of thousands of other people paddle and swim in rivers streams and lakes and in the sea.

DD is a wild swimmer. She swims in one of the gravel pits that are part of a local nature reserve. The pool is dedicated to organised wild swimming. it is supervised. She swims all year round,without a wet suit, and we have pictures of her breaking ice to get in.

This weekend we stayed on a houseboat on the broads. The water in the inlet where we were moored was about a metre deep and clear, you could see the bottom. She went swimming there, while I watched and she wore her tow float.

When we hired a day boat to go up river we met many paddle boarders, canooists and kayakers. Some of them drown each year. many of those were mooringup where there were shallows and gravel to paddle and swim.

Lets keep it in proportion, yes every year people drown. usually because they choose to wild swim in an unsafe way in obviously unsafe waters. but many more swim all year round is a safe and secure manner and enjoy the mix of swimming and nature.

Basgetti

Public information films well and truly put me off swimming in open water when I was a kid. Perhaps we need those again?

Great idea. Wasn't there one about playing near railway lines too?

Most towns used to have a Lido where you could stay for hours fairly cheaply.
Cooling off in the pool then sitting the grass slurping an ice lolly.

Sadly they’ll be more that will die in the uk waters over the summer. I went for a walk Wednesday, 6 boys, aged around 13 jumping in the rocky river, I couldn’t watch 🙈, they were shivering when the came out, yes they were having fun, but looked so dangerous to me.
2 years ago a lady died in this river trying to save her dog 🐶
I swam in rivers when I was young, so I understand why they live doing it 🏊

It would seem that young males are programmed to take daft risks, and to ignore all warnings, since they know they are immortal.

Dh and I were once waiting in the car just before a level crossing, when 2 teen boys - on bikes! - dodged through the closing gates, making it only by the skin of their teeth.

Dh said, ‘I’m glad we’ve got girls - boys are so bloody stupid!’

He’s one of 4 boys, and I know he used to do plenty of daft things, so he should know.

Basgetti

Public information films well and truly put me off swimming in open water when I was a kid. Perhaps we need those again?

Yes, the 'dark and lonely water' one well and truly put me off too! Mind you, although I can swim (though not particularly well) I can't float. Now I know people are going to say everyone can float - and everyone says that until they see me try, and fail miserably!

Franbern

Our local swimming pool does ‘£1 a kid’ swimming sessions on certain days and times.

I think that’s good value.

On a local FB page, one young mum was moaning that pools should do free swimming for children.

She needs to remember that someone else would be having to subsidise that.

REKA I just checked this out.
It was worse in the 1950s and 60s.

Accidental water fatality has fallen by roughly 80% per capita since then

​Even when factoring in recent heatwaves, the modern peak spikes are vastly lower than a typical summer week sixty years ago.
Mid-century Britain simply did not have rescue services, swim literacy, beach lifeguards, or physiological understanding of "cold water shock" that we do today.

Approximately 2 deaths per 100,000 people in the 1950s and 1960s
Between 0.3 and 0.4 deaths per 100,000 people now

I know it seems incredible!

(Old info from RoSPA and the Royal Life Saving Society and new data from The Water Incident Database which didn't exist then.)

When i was growing up there was public awareness films directed at children. One had Death roaming around the edge of a pond, discussing the dangers under the murky water. Petrified me, it did. You wouldn't have seen me anywhere near open water.

They did a few, one was about a house fire, another with a child rushing to get his ball from close by an electricity pylon. They were excellent and certainly instilled some sense into kids.

I suppose they would be deemed too traumatising for children today. Shame really

There have been 11 confirmed water-related deaths across the UK since the heatwave began on May 22.

The majority were children and teenagers (9) who entered open water to cool off. The other two were over 60.

It's cold water shock, causing an immediate gasp reflex, rapid loss of muscle coordination, and sudden panic. The water is still basically at near-winter temperatures.

Terrible loss.

I had a cousin who was learning how to swim ..he was in his teens and was embarrassed to go to the local swimming pool, so he and his friend went to a river .he got into difficulties , his friend tried to save him, but he was pulling him down, he drowned . if he had gone to the swimming pool there would have been life guards to save him..

when we were young, there was a local swimming pool, a couple of old shillings got you in ,we could be there all day, life guards to watch , then instead of upkeeping it , the council decided it had to close. they built another indoor pool. where you were only allowed in for an hour,

Franbern

Perhaps if it was easier and cheaper to go to local swimming pools than it actually is now, some of these tragedy might have been avoided.
We have just one council swimming pool in our seaside town, my grandson and his friends (all still in school), have to pay five pounds for a swim there. A lot of money for them.
Totally understand that local councils no longer have the money to subsidise such things as swimming pools, this needs to come from national government.

As for swimming lessons at school - for most long since been cut.

These drownings have always occurred even when entry to a swimming pool was much cheaper. Boys in particular always seem to prefer to be somewhere where they are not supervised and there are no rules. Sometimes, inevitable the nearest swimming pool is some distance away. And in this baking weather, who wants to swim in an enclosed swimming pool when they can go for a swim outside in the local reservoir or river.

A relation volunteered on inshore lifeboats and often they rescued young children on flimsy inflatables taken out to sea by the current or wind.
The parents often hardly said thank you and the crew always punctured the inflatable so it couldnt be taken out again. Some parents got really angry about that!! You can't believe it.

I remember when we went to the beach everyone knew not to swim near the rocks or where the river entered. All local knowledge seems forgotten as with common sense.

I live near the Sea, a River and a reservoir over the years there have been multiple casualties, no matter how much the schools hold awareness sessions it just doesn't seem to sink in. It is such a tragedy but it is older people as well as youngsters.

I never went into rivers/ ponds/ watery gravel pits and so on.
Girls usually have more sense.
My cousin ( boy) jumped into the Thames fully clothed to see what it felt like, the idiot. It felt cold and wet he said when he clambered out.It was in early Spring I remember and cold, so he would have been cold to start with which is safer than if he’d done it in a heatwave I guess.

And there was one with a kid climbing on a pylon to get his kite back.

Basgetti

Public information films well and truly put me off swimming in open water when I was a kid. Perhaps we need those again?

Yes they did the job didn’t they? There was one about dark still water with the grim reaper waiting there.

Public information films well and truly put me off swimming in open water when I was a kid. Perhaps we need those again?

Primrose53

My son said he suspects most schools don’t take kids swimming any more. Not sure if this is correct.

When my kids were at school they were taken for swimming lessons and received lots of certificates. Even in my day at both primary and grammar school we had swimming lessons.

My Gdcs’ primary does provide swimming lessons once they’re in year 3. But IIRC the lessons only continue after year 3 for those children who aren’t already competent swimmers.

Primrose53, I'm sure it will differ in regions/local authorities but they haven't had swimming lessons through schools for about 20 years. It is expensive to pay for lessons. I always saw it as a 'life skill' but my stepdad paid for a lot of my children's swimming lessons.

The young man in Abermaw, Gwynedd was apparently murdered not drowned - as someone has been charged

Perhaps if it was easier and cheaper to go to local swimming pools than it actually is now, some of these tragedy might have been avoided.
We have just one council swimming pool in our seaside town, my grandson and his friends (all still in school), have to pay five pounds for a swim there. A lot of money for them.
Totally understand that local councils no longer have the money to subsidise such things as swimming pools, this needs to come from national government.

As for swimming lessons at school - for most long since been cut.

So so sad when those lads were intending to enjoy themselves. Its not just depth and currents its temperature too. Even though weather is warmer at this time of year water is still cold, especially the sea.

I never had swimming lessons at my grammar school, neither did my children, but we all, including the grandchildren, are competent swimmers, living near the coast it’s essential.
We don’t hear so much about tombstoning - jumping from height into water - as we used to causing catastrophic injuries. Hopefully advice and example have been heeded.