New Guinness World Record attempted for World’s Largest Swimming Lesson
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“It gave me goose bumps to think about the thousands of children all over the world blowing bubbles in the water at the same time,” says Gena Fowler, director of leisure services for the town of Hampton and Canadian Red Cross master instructor swimming trainer. “This event is a great way to promote the importance of swimming and water safety.”
Like many towns all across Canada, Hampton is surrounded by rivers and lakes. Fowler says learning swimming skills and water safety saves lives. Each year, an average of 400 Canadians drown, and more than half of those occur during the summer months. Recent polling shows that despite significant water safety education and awareness programming, there is still a gap in Canadians’ behaviour around the water: Drowning is still one of the leading causes of unintentional death for Canadian children ages one to four. A small child can disappear in seconds and can drown in only a few centimetres of water – enough to cover the mouth and nose. Typically these drownings occur in backyard pools, toddler pools, the bathtub or the beach.
“Everyone should be taking Red Cross swimming lessons,” says Fowler. “Everyone should know how to save themselves in an emergency.”
The Canadian Red Cross has been helping to keep Canadians safe in, on and around water since 1946. For more information about Canadian Red Cross swimming and water safety programs, or for safety tips, visit www.redcross.ca/swim.
