History Of The Club

Although the beaches at Bantham and Bigbury are used by tens of thousands of families every summer in perfect safety, it was not always that way. In older days - and some not so long ago - Bantham had a dreadful reputation for deadly currents. Tombstones - "Drowned bathing at Bantham", - in nearby churchyards show that the risk to swimmers was not exaggerated by locals warnings.

All that changed in 1960 when Mr Maitland, the local expert on beach safety, formed the Bantham Surf Life Saving Club. A small number of local residents and strong swimmers joined at once and started training. At first they had to learn from established surf life saving clubs. A team from Perranporth, Cornwall, came to Bantham to demonstrate the latest use of the Reel and Line. Gradually the members became expert in all methods of saving lives at Bantham.

Their first club house lagged well behind their expertise. It was a wooden shed on top of a World War II pillbox. It took nine years for the Club House to be replaced by a prefab concrete construction which had a garage and which used the old pillbox as a storage area. New equipment followed swiftly on from the reel and line including rescue boards and rescue skis. Then came the Club's first boat an inflatable with outboard motor. Since that boat there have been four others, the best one of all being the current surf rescue boat imported from New Zealand financed with the help of a grant from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts.

All this equipment would have been useless without the people to use it. Happily over the years the membership has increased dramatically. This means that Bantham is now patrolled every Sunday from early May to the end of September by the Club's highly trained life-guards - in partnership with the RNLI during the week. All life-guards are fit to carry out surf rescues of all kinds and are resuscitation and first aid trained and able to use the latest medical revival equipment. The Club has carried out many rescues and is closely linked to H.M.Coastguard.

The most exciting recent event has been the construction of a new Club House to reflect the Club's status as a long established and vital part in the network of beach safety. With the help of a Grant from the National Lottery we are proud to be the owners of a building that is second to none. It is hoped that our continued role as an essential surf life saving club will ensure that we remain a valued part of the community.