Heatwave water deaths - campaign required

I think that they should bring back the short "public information films" that they used to have between programmes.

There are so many things that my generation were made aware of:dangers of wild swimming, railway safety, including not ignoring the lights at level crossings, using fireworks safely, not crossing roads like a twat, cycle safety, how to behave around cattle or horses when out walking (and the importance of shutting farm gates), not going close to cliff edges etc.

I get particularly exercised by the cliff edges thing. I live in Sussex, and often walk along sections of the Seven Sisters. It's remarkable how many idiots ignore the warning signs and stand really close to the edge for photographs, or even sit on the edge with their legs dangling over. Every year, large amounts of those cliffs just fall off, they're really fragile. I don't even like walking along the beach close to the cliffs, because of the risk of a fucking great lump of chalk landing on me. These twats really are Darwin Award contenders.

I let my DS and DD go, but give them guidelines. Do not jump into the water, do not jump off anything. Do not drink them swim (drink after swimming) and stay where your feet touch the bottom. I've hammered these home but I'm still absolutely terrified.

A 12 year old lad died on Tue in the exact spot I'd been swimming with my DD the evening before. Heartbreaking and so worrying. But I'd rather send my kids out with permission and guidance than no knowledge at all.

I think you are right.

I agree op. Some really terrifying ones like the Aussies used to do!

Whilst cold water shock seems to be a buzz term now, back in the 90s during life guard training we learnt that jumping into cold water from being hot makes people gasp, inhaling a load of water that then, even if "saved" can cause secondary drowning later on.
I don't know if that's "cold water shock" but it's definitely the shock caused by jumping into cold water.

They were drunk, it was dark (disorientation occurs) and the Thames has weeds which prevent easy movement so drunk swimmers get caught and tire very easily.

I was once on a pedalo on a lake in Switzerland on a glorious day when similar happened and we really struggled to get back to shore. There were guys on a boat trying to round everyone up as we were pedalling on suddenly very choppy water.

You will never stop teenagers from being reckless especially boys. At that age they think they are invincible.

@NameChangeMay2026 I do always wonder how people drown if they can swim. It's not like the Thames has big waves and tides. Did they get cold-water shock?

My teenage daughter and I are strong swimmers and often swim out to the furthest point allowed when swimming in the sea, but two years ago in the sea in Italy - we swam out quite far from shore in lovely conditions and then SUDDENLY (literally within a matter of seconds) the weather turned, the sky turned very grey and the sea angry with huge waves and pushing us away from the shore - it was utterly terrifying and it's very lucky we made it back.

Another example was in one of those on-sea inflatable waterparks in Spain. My daughter had to dive UNDER the inflatable to get back on it (she was told to do this by one of the "life guards" who was loosely supervising people on the inflatablebles (absolutely xero safety measures and an accident waiting to happen). Anyway, she couldn't see in the dark when she dived under it and was trapped underneath when trying to get back up with absolutely no one noticing (including me as I was at shore). She was absolutely terrified she would drown but managed to find her way back up somehow from underneath the inflatable.

The powers that be might be starting to see what's required. I've just read on the local new website that the council have launched an anti knife crime campaign with a 44 second music video featuring a cool looking young man talking about the consequences of knife crime. So they just need to do one featuring a boy in a wheelchair at the graveside of his mate after they both got into trouble jumping into a flooded quarry. And get it all over Tiktok.

I agree with this. Most of them think they’re invincible. And that they know better than everyone else. I think there should definitely be a huge effort to get the information across to them, but sadly I believe most of those who want to take the risk won’t let a wagging finger from some boring adult put them off.

I look back with horror at some of the utterly stupid risks I took as a teenage girl and I would call myself pretty risk averse overall.

There are so many different sources now, when I was a child you had terrestrial TV.
The issue is now for every good warning/announcement you’ve got some idiot on TikTok/YouTube with “beginners hike in the Lake District - striding edge” making people think they can do whatever.
Im a pretty keen hiker/fell runner and I’ve seen people out and really struggling in completely inappropriate gear (wellies on rough ground, hoodies and jeans in wet weather etc). The issue is social media and until the outdoors influencer types actually start posting about how dangerous jumping into a giant body of cold water is, not just “oh look at this fab wild swimming spot” it will continue to happen

Omg I remember this!! It scared the living daylights out of me!!

Yes bring back the service announcement.

My grandmother who would have been 95 if she were still alive told me that a boy drowned whilst they were all swimming in water back when she was a teenager. They all knew not to swim there because it had reeds in the bottom but they went anyway. She said the boy jumped in and just didn’t come back up. He got caught up in the reeds and drowned. She got a right bollocking when she got home and her parents found out.

I came incredibly close to death in my late teens, I was in with the hippies and went skinny-dipping in the local 'pits' - ex quarries.

It went fine - I was a very strong swimmer back then - until I went just an extra metre and the water turned ice-cold, I had reached a huge drop in the depth of the floor and it literally took my breath away. Somehow made it back to shore and nobody had any idea I was in trouble. I will never forget it and my kids are well-educated on the risks of open water.

Unfortunately Andrew Tate was the first person who sprang to mind (awful as that is!) 😫

There are warnings and campaigns. I have been to one of the lakes where a death happened last week, there is a big, prominent sign which says danger, no swimming but every time the sun comes out it is packed with people swimming in the water literally right next to the sign.

Maybe there's nothing you can do. As a pp said they know the risks and do it anyway.

Bring back Charlie. Scare the shit out of them young.

It was no different in the past wrt swimming. Just we didn’t have signs up. My uncle used to swim in the Thames regularly apparently.

What dya what? Talk about rose tinted glasses. i was caught shoplifting in the 80s. Nothing was done. Rave culture was drugged addled, not to even touch on the heroin epidemic!

When something bad happens involving kids, people always say 'they should be taught about this at school'.

We have endless assemblies where people come in to talk about the dangers of drugs, fire, water, traffic, knives, punching people.

Because schools see the dangers and don't want it happening to their kids.

People assume that these things happen because kids haven't been told, when often they have.

There are loads of urban areas with a lot of water about. (Towns tend to be built around rivers and big cities will often still have a lot of canals; also urban lakes are not uncommon.) And most inland rural areas do not have as ready access to open water as the Lake District! So I don't think it's fair to suggest it's a town vs country thing anyway.

Go back to the old style videos they use to show at schools that warned everyone of what would happen if they did certain behaviours.