Ruth Lee donation gives Hayle Surf Life Saving Club a lifelike boost

Rescue drills only work if they feel like the real thing. That is easier said than done when the casualty is imaginary, which is why a new arrival at Hayle Surf Life Saving Club has quickly become one of the most useful members of the team, despite never getting in the water under its own steam.

The club has been given an adult and a baby rescue training manikin, donated by Ruth Lee Ltd, and the pair are already earning their keep.

A gift that changes the training

For a volunteer club, kit like this matters. A weighted, water-ready manikin behaves in a way no willing volunteer can safely replicate, which lets crews practise the parts of a rescue that are hardest to rehearse.

Putting them to work on the IRB

The manikins have gone straight into the club’s IRB training. An IRB, or inshore rescue boat, is the small inflatable powerboat surf lifesavers use to reach casualties quickly in the surf zone, and getting a limp, waterlogged body over the side of one is a very different task from pulling in a teammate who is quietly helping.

That is where the adult manikin comes in. And the baby manikin adds a scenario crews hope they never face for real but cannot afford to be caught out by.

The club says the donation is helping make its rescue scenarios more realistic. A huge thank you, as they put it, to Ruth Lee Ltd for the support.

The company behind the donation

Ruth Lee Ltd is a family business that has been making training manikins since 1994. Its dummies are used right across the UK’s emergency services, and the company says it supplies every one of the UK’s fire and rescue services and exports more than 70 per cent of what it makes to markets including the USA, Australia and Germany. It has developed manikins in consultation with organisations including the Royal Navy and the RNLI, and recently won a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation. For a Cornish volunteer club, that is a well-regarded name to have in your corner.

More than a rescue club

Hayle Surf Life Saving Club is an inclusive, family-friendly club promoting beach safety, fitness, fun and a competitive spirit, and it is regularly on the lookout for new members. Some learn the skills to save lives at sea and go on to become professional RNLI lifeguards. Others stay to compete as well-rounded watermen and waterwomen in what the club describes as an encouraging and friendly community.

Members train with professional racing and lifesaving equipment alongside coaches the club calls experienced, supportive and enthusiastic. Membership details, news and the option to donate to the club are all on its website.