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We are delighted that our work to train young people across the region in water safety has been recognised as a national example of best practice.
Water safety has always been a priority for Loch Ken Trust. As our Community-led Ranger Service continues to grow, we now carrying out regular patrols on both land and water, throughout the season.
Tragically, last year a young man lost his life in an accidental drowning on Loch Ken. Since then, Loch Ken Trust has stepped up its work around water safety. The Trust became a member of Water Safety Scotland and joined a national working group on water safety in open water environments.
The Loch Ken Trust Youth Water Safety Awareness Programme was launched last year, thanks to funding from the Holywood Trust. The programme delivers free water safety sessions for young people at the Galloway Activity Centre, equipping them with vital skills to keep themselves safe on and around the water.
This work has now been chosen to feature in a new national publication from Water Safety Scotland. The publication, ‘Experiential Learning Guidance’, shows people how to run water-based activities and sessions safely.
This document brings together guidance from partners across Scotland on how to create, develop, implement and evaluate a successful and safe experiential learning event. It provides step by step instructions for local areas interested in creating an experiential learning event around water.
Water safety is a vitally important issue for our young people. Our region has an abundance of lochs, rivers and other areas of open water. Having water safety training can literally be a matter of life and death for our young people. To date, over 50 young people in our region have received this training, and are now equipped with skills to keep themselves safe on and around water.
Loch Ken Trust Manager, Barney Fryer said, “We were all devastated by the tragedy last year and Loch Ken Trust is determined to do everything we can to try and prevent anything like it happening again. It has been fantastic to see young people grow in confidence on the water and learn new skills. We are delighted that Water Safety Scotland chose to feature our work as an example of best practice. Credit must go to the fantastic team at Galloway Activity Centre. It’s been great working in partnership with a local business to help keep our young people safe.”
You can read the newly published guidance on the link below
Experiential Learning Guidance
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