Dozens of emergency services from across the West Country will be gathering on Burnham-On-Sea’s seafront this Sunday (August 31st) for 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 of hovercrafts, lifeboats, ambulances, fire engines and more. Burnham’s Mayor Martin Cox and MP Tessa Munt will open the event.
Over 20 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, Blood bikes, Somerset 4×4 Response, Marine Life Rescue, Avon Search and Rescue, NHS Ambulance Service, British Red Cross, SCC Civil Contingencies Team, Environment Agency, The Rotary Club, Burnham Lions, Burnham Radio Club, Model Hovercraft Association.
There will also be plenty to do for families with food stalls, children’s rides, a bouncy castle and face-painting (all subject to late change).
This year’s event will also be held on the same day as the Stert Sea Swim, which begins at just after 10am. Over 80 swimmers will swim across the bay to Stert Island and back.
A Coastguard helicopter is scheduled to perform a demonstration at around 11.30am, again subject to late change on the day for operational reasons.
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.
