Canal rescuer wins lifesaving award

LIFEsaver . . . Caoimhe Preshur (centre) receives her Certificate of Commendation for her brave actions from RLSS UK Manchester and district branch chairman Mike Wardle alongside Rookie Lifeguard instructor Warren Andrews and fellow Rookies

Icy water heroics of girl, 10
A 10-year-old lifesaver has been presented with a certificate for saving a boy who had fallen into icy water.

Caoimhe Preshur, from Saddleworth, was on a family boating holiday in Sheffield in March when she saw the boy slip off a narrow boat’s deck into the canal

After screaming for help and reaching for the boy, Caoimhe - then nine - jumped into the water and helped to keep the 10 year old’s head up until family members rushed to help them.

The Royal Life Saving Society commended her bravery and offered her a free place on its Rookie Lifeguard course for young lifesavers.

Caoimhe has now completed the first Rookie award at Oldham Sports Centre and has received her RLSS UK Young Person’s Certificate of Commendation for her rescue.

“I loved doing my first Rookie Lifeguard award. I really thought it was extremely useful and I am definitely going to carry on with the lessons,” she said. “If anyone fell in again I’d do lots of things differently, I now know what to do properly.”


For more information about lifeguard courses or the RLSS UK visit the website at www.rlss.org.uk or call 01789 773994.