Hutton Moor – How Rookie Lifeguards Became Their Workforce!

Hutton Moor Leisure Centre is North Somerset Council's largest leisure centre. Operated by Legacy Leisure and located in Weston-Super-Mare, it's a popular venue, with over 600,000 people using the facilities yearly!  

In 2014, the centre launched its RLSS UK Rookie Lifeguard programme, which had unexpected and remarkable consequences that benefitted the leisure centre, its community, and the career prospects of the Rookie Lifeguards participating.  

The programme's success story emerged when the first group of five former Rookie Lifeguards completed their RLSS UK National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) at Hutton Moor Leisure Centre and joined its staff team.  

One of these former Rookie Lifeguards subsequently used the skills learnt during their Rookie Lifeguard sessions and NPLQ course to save a life in the town centre by performing CPR for twenty-plus minutes until the paramedics arrived!  

Since 2020, the Rookie Lifeguard programme at Hutton Moor Leisure Centre has produced twenty-six qualified lifeguards, seven Rookie Lifeguard Instructors - four of them are also RLSS UK National Lifesaving Academy (NLA) Instructors, and three Level 2 Swimming Teachers, all having worked or still working as staff at the centre! Ilana, a Rookie Lifeguard programme graduate, even impressively passed her NPLQ course on her sixteenth birthday – the first possible day she could have! 

Blythe, Ionah and Lilly (pictured) wouldn't have envisaged that today, they'd be working at the centre as qualified lifeguards and National Lifesaving Academy (NLA) and Rookie Lifeguard Instructors, but that's what they've achieved through their commitment to and enthusiasm for lifesaving and water safety. 

They completed all the Rookie Lifeguard awards up to NLA Bronze Star, NLA Bronze Medallion, and Assistant Rookie Instructor level before passing their NPLQ and joining the staff team. They went on to complete the NLA Instructor award earlier this year.  

An appearance on a BBC Points West programme, in which they talked about the importance of young children being able to swim and have lifesaving skills and the equally significant role that lifeguards play in water safety, recently recognised their contribution. 

Today, young Rookie Lifeguards enjoying the programme inspired by their instructors say they also want to be the lifeguards of the future at Hutton Moor.  

Blythe said: "The RLSS UK Rookie Lifeguard course and the training to be a pool lifeguard has helped me further appreciate the importance of water safety, and I really like helping people." 

"In the past, I have helped people who were in difficulty in pools. I could also use her transferrable skills to help a classmate suffering an asthma attack at school.  

"It really is second nature now. We can respond to these intense and scary situations so quickly," she added.  

Jo Talbot, Interim CEO at the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), stated: "The Rookie Lifeguard programme at Hutton Moor is a perfect example of how our pathway should work. Offering opportunities for progression from swimming lessons to Rookie Lifeguard and onto Pool Lifeguards benefits both the individual and the centre, and it is amazing to hear that it is happening like this. When we get people interested in water safety and aware of the dangers associated with water at an early age, we can teach them how to stay safe near water while also providing them with transferrable skills for their future lives and careers." 

Are you interested in starting your own RLSS UK Rookie Lifeguard sessions? 

The Rookie Lifeguard programme can increase your swimming and pool-based income by retaining swimmers, attracting new customers to your centre or pool, and creating a recruitment funnel for enthusiastic and skilled lifeguards. For more information, contact RLSS UK on 0300 323 0096 or read the Rookie Lifeguard Programme Getting Started Guide.

Become a Rookie Lifeguard Instructor

Become a National Lifesaving Academy (NLA) Instructor