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Lord Mayor's appeal

The Portsmouth and Southsea Voluntary Lifeguards (PSVL) is a beach lifeguard club based on Southsea seafront with headquarters between Southsea Castle and South Parade pier.

The main focus of the club is to provide beach lifeguard cover for Southsea seafront which takes the form of shoreline, surf ski and boat patrols during weekends and bank holidays between May and September. The club also patrols during the week in the school holidays. In addition to the patrols undertaken, the club is a declared rescue unit to Her Majesty’s Coastguard, which sees members and rescue boats being tasked to 999 incidents. They also provide specialist rescue and first aid cover for special events, examples include triathlons, pier to pier and cross Solent swims, and power boat races.

The club aims to raise awareness of life saving techniques with the general public, and through affiliation to the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS), is able to provide training for a variety of RLSS approved lifesaving, life guarding and resuscitation awards.

The organisation is a member of the Solent Sea Rescue Organisation whose role is to provide a rescue boat service in the Solent region.

As a voluntary organisation with charitable status, PSVL relies on the generosity of the general public for survival and to preserve rescue cover for those members of the public who find themselves in difficulties within the Portsmouth and Southsea marine environment.

To maintain their current level of service to the public, PSVL urgently needs a new headquarters building and have drawn up plans on their current site near the Rock Gardens. The estimated cost is £350,000 and they will be applying for Lottery funding but will first need to match this with locally raised money.