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Members of the afterschool group in Bright Sparks, Mitchelstown with Eleanor Masterson and Claire Devaney, as Water Safety Development Officer with Cork County Council, Caroline Casey awarded them their Water Safety Flag. Photo: Sandra Quinn

Living in a country where there is more rain than sunshine, water is a part of everyday life, however many people are not fully aware of the dangers of water and how to exercise safety when around it.

To combat this, Water Safety Development Officer for Cork County Council, Caroline Casey, has been visiting schools and groups to give children a course on water safety.

On Thursday, January 15th last, she awarded a Water Safety Flag to the children in the afterschool group in Bright Sparks, Mitchelstown, after they all achieved certificates in water safety awareness.

KNOWLEDGE IS KEY

Caroline pointed out that three years ago, she did a survey on the Cork beaches and 80% of those people surveyed didn't know what the various warning flags meant - the aim of the Water Safety Flag is to increase that knowledge and help turn those figures around.

She said that the level of knowledge about water safety varies from group to group, but that everyone (adults and teachers included) take away a lot of new and potentially life saving information from the initiative.

"The knowledge of kids is what will drive this project," she added.

Claire Devaney of Bright Sparks, added that the interest of the children was clear and she said that it's really important that issues like this are brought into schools.

Throughout Caroline's visit, the children learned about the dangers of things like rip currents and the meanings of beach flags, to things like ponds covered in ice, staying away from slurry pits as well as seemingly little matters, like cleaning out a paddling pool daily in the summer, so that bacteria won't grow.

She also gave the children 14 steps to stay safe around water and her talk was fun and engaging, as it got the children to really think about what they know about water safety and ask questions about what they should be doing to stay safe.

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