.SUNDAY’S TIMETABLE:
10am Opening of the event with Mayor
10.45am Stert Island Swim
11.30am Skywatch microlights flypast
12.15pm Lifeguards rescue demonstration
12.40pm Procession of rescue vehicles – Coastguard, BARB and Wessex 4×4 Response – along the beach from Berrow to Burnham
2.30pm Helicopter rescue demo
3.30pm Hovercraft flying demonstration
NB: Times are subject to change without notice
Dozens of emergency services from across the West Country will be gathering on Burnham-On-Sea’s seafront today (Sunday, July 28th) to take part in the town’s annual rescue services day.
Scores of displays and demonstrations will be held on Burnham seafront and beach from 10am to 4pm with displays from hovercrafts, lifeboats, micro-lights and more. Burnham’s Mayor Martin Cox will open the event.
Almost 40 different emergency groups will be taking part, including BARB, the RNLI, HM Coastguard, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Somerset Fire and Rescue and the ambulance service.
Vehicles and teams from each service will be on hand during the day and life-saving demonstrations will take place in the sea and on the beach, giving spectators a unique chance to see their work up-close.
Others groups involved include St John Ambulance, Skywatch, Freewheeler Blood bikes, Somerset 4×4 Response, Marine Life Rescue, SCC Road Safety team, NHS Ambulance Service, Avon and Somerset Search and Rescue, Exmore Search and Rescue, British Red Cross, SCC Civil Contingencies Team, The Environment Agency, International Emergency Action, The Rotary Club of Burnham, Burnham Lions Club, Weston Radio Club, The Model Hovercraft Association, Vintage AA Motorbike and Side Cars and the WRVS.
There will also be plenty to do for families, with food stalls, children’s rides, a bouncy castle, swing boats and face-painting.
This year’s event will also be held on the same day as the Stert Island Sea Swim, which begins at around 10.45am. Over 80 swimmers will swim across the bay to Stert Island and back.
Event organiser Roger Flower told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This year’s event will be bigger than previous years with more rescue services involved so there will be lots of great demonstrations to watch and activities.”
“It will be a super opportunity to see the work of our local emergency services at first hand and support them.”
BARB, the charity that operates Burnham’s rescue hovercrafts, has organised the popular event since it started in 2004.
