LIFEGUARDS have been sharpening their life-saving skills in case of emergency.

RNLI volunteer crew members spent their entire weekend at Barmouth lifeboat station on a casualty care course held in the boathouse on 2-4 November.

Funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and led by RNLI instructor Nick Darlison, the course acted as refresher training for experienced lifeboat crew as well as vital training for newer volunteers who have joined the RNLI more recently.

The course consisted of various aspects of caring for casualties and volunteers learned how to deal with a wide range of conditions that they might face during their life-saving rescues, from treating trauma and resuscitation to dealing with various accident scenarios.

Coxswain Peter Davies said: “The casualty care course provides essential training that enables our lifeboat crew members to treat casualties who are injured and in shock.

“Many of our rescues are fairly straightforward, but others can be a lot more serious.

“If a person is injured out at sea they will need treating immediately and crews cannot wait to get them back to shore.

“Our volunteers need to be highly skilled in order to administer first aid, which is often vital in the immediate aftermath of an accident or injury."

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