Merseyside Water Rescue runs a voluntary Safety Boat at the south Liverpool Dock every Friday & Saturday evening from 8pm to midnight, the hours of greatest need. We aim to be there in those vital few minutes between a person entering the water and the arrival of the emergency services when risk to life is greatest through cold water shock and drowning. Our members train in first aid, boat handling, search and rescue techniques and communications, we have saved lives.
Our work ranges from offering safety advice to full casualty recovery from the water. We have assisted people with first aid and carried out searches of the water for the emergency services. We are the only safety boat at the south Liverpool Docks. We often find it is despondent people who choose to enter the water who need our help. We try to engage with people to prevent them from entering the water, and persuade them to accept help.
We have very recently bought a narrow boat to use as a base for our volunteers. Standing on the slipway of the Salthouse Dock on a Friday & Saturday night is very difficult for our volunteers, especially on cold winter nights. Now we have somewhere to take shelter, have a cup of tea and warm up after a boat tour, somewhere quiet for discussions and a space to use as a classroom. 'The Duchess' needs fitting out and converting to be suitable for our needs and this award could not come at a better time for us. We are so grateful to the Movement for Good Awards, you have improved our volunteering and helped us to a brighter future.
