Celebrating 25 years of the RNLI Lifeguard Service

Date published: 9th July 2026

This year celebrates the 25th anniversary of the RNLI lifeguard service in the UK, and 19th year in North Norfolk.

To mark the occasion, over 100 staff from the RNLI Lifeguard Service, RNLI Lifeboats, Coastguard, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, Paramedics and Air Ambulance Charity gathered on Cromer Beach ahead of the peak season.

In 2001 the RNLI launched its lifeguard service across 26 beaches in Devon and Cornwall with over 3000 people aided and 20 lives saved in the first year.

In 2007 the lifeguard service was brought to North Norfolk, the first place nationwide out of the South-East region, to take over the existing lifeguard service provided by North Norfolk District Council.

Initially starting with four beaches (Sheringham, Cromer, Mundesley and Sea Palling), over time it expanded to include Wells, West Runton and East Runton and a second station at both Sheringham and Cromer.

This year the lifeguard service has 54 lifeguards employed to patrol our beaches between 10:00-18:00hrs every day.

Not only is it the excellence of their coverage of our coast that we should celebrate, according to the RNLI’s records for North Norfolk in 2025 alone, the RNLI attended 345 incidents with 173 of them requiring first aid, 5 lives were saved and 44 rescues which could have ended badly had they not attended.

Guy Metcalf, Leisure & Locality Team Leader at North Norfolk District Council, said:

“We are extremely proud of our long-standing partnership with the RNLI. The lifeguard service provided by the RNLI have set the standard for professionalism and safety on our beaches, helping residents and visitors enjoy our coastline with confidence.

"Their dedication and expertise play a vital role in supporting our Blue Flag beaches and protecting the public, and we are grateful for the continued strength of this important partnership.

"Having six Blue Flag award beaches along North Norfolk’s beautiful coastline is a fantastic achievement and reflects the hard work to maintain a clean and safe coast. To meet Blue Flag’s strict requirements, we must achieve a number of criteria, one of which is having a lifeguard service.

"It’s always lovely to go for a swim when it’s hot, but following spells of some extreme weather conditions this year and more than average numbers of people seeking to enjoy both coastal and inland waters, this has unfortunately resulted in a number of drownings and incidents nationwide, which demonstrates the requirements to have an professional lifeguard service, as well as giving out effective and educational safety information such as the RNLI’s ‘Float To Live’ campaign to keep people aware and safe.”

Sam Kendrick, RNLI Lead Lifeguard Supervisor, added:

"The emergency services work really well together.

"Say, for example, someone was in trouble in the water, a lifeguard may go in and rescue them, then bring them ashore, perhaps treat them for first aid and call 999.

"That goes to an operator who then may be asked for an ambulance, or the Coast Guard, then the Coast Guard teams may help the lifeguards to move that casualty off the beach.

"Then they might be treated by paramedics, perhaps, on the promenade, and then, depending on the severity of the incident, it could be an air ambulance that then takes that patient to hospitals.

"So you can see there, in just one rescue, there's four different agencies that have all linked up together."

"It shows the importance of us all working together to try and achieve the same goal.

We wanted to celebrate their work with this occasion and get as many people together as possible for this photo shoot, just so that we can highlight all of these people and the wonderful work that they do."