School children have joined Olympian Stephen Milne to launch a nationwide water safety campaign.
Children from Methven Primary School were joined by the Olympic silver-medallist at Perth Leisure Pool for a water safety lesson.
The lesson was the first in the water safety campaign, which aims to give tens of thousands of young swimmers across Scotland a lesson in self-rescue and life-saving skills over the school summer holidays.
During the lesson, the children covered the water safety code, the importance of floating in cold water, the meaning of different coloured flags on a beach, and when to call 999.
Stephen said: “Swimming is a huge part of my life but swimming is also a life skill. With so many miles of coastline and inland lochs, it is really important that all children have the chance to learn to swim so they become confident, competent and safe swimmers.”
This comes after the latest figures from the National Water Safety Forum found 263 people lost their lives to drowning in the UK last year - 46 of them were in Scotland.
It also comes as Scotland marked national drowning prevention week.
Gary Watson, director of operations at Live Active Leisure, the sports body behind Perth Leisure Pool, said: “We are delighted to be hosting such an important event today to promote children’s safety in and around water as part of drowning prevention week.
“Working with Scottish Swimming and Scottish Water through the national learn to swim framework we are making a real difference by helping children of all ages and abilities to become confident, safe and competent swimmers.”
As part of the campaign, parents can now also access water safety information for their children online via www.learntoswim.scot
It is hoped the campaign will teach over 100,000 children to become safe and competent swimmers by 2020 in a bid to reduce the number of people being killed by accidental drowning.
Brian Lironi, director of corporate affairs at Scottish Water, said: “We are delighted so many children across Scotland are already able to enjoy the benefits of swimming - and so these new lessons will give them additional skills should they ever find themselves in danger.”
