Walter and Wendy test water safety skills in Esperance

Royal Life Saving WA has a network of 130 public aquatic centres across Western Australia who take part in our Watch Around Water program. Watch Around Water aims to promote the importance of parental supervision when visiting public pools across our state.

Recently our Watch Around Water mascots, Wendy and Walter the Watchdog headed south to visit the Esperance Agricultural Show, and enjoyed their time sharing the Watch Around Water message with locals. The pair were invited to the show by the local Bay of Isles Leisure Centre, who are fantastic partners of Royal Life Saving WA and were keen to display the Watch Around Water message as part of their stand.

The display was a great way to attract the kids attention and educate on the importance of the Watch Around Water safety messages, and each child was able to take part in a special quiz where they had to identify objects they could use to rescue someone. Once they answered correctly they were given an opportunity to fish for prizes from the bridge at the stand.

The kids and families were amazingly clever and managed to claim a total of 468 prizes across the two days, including Watch Around Water merchandise, goggles, free family Centre pool passes, balloons and lolly bags. Heidi Norwood from Bay of Isles Leisure Centre says the quiz was a real eye-opener! “I was very surprised how aware little kids, from around 3 years, are of Watch Around Water and how much information they retain about this message. All those safety weeks in swim school and promotions or advertising around the place are really paying off!”

Look out for our Watch Around Water promotional materials next time you visit your local aquatic centre, and you never know, you might just bump into Walter and Wendy at your local pool sometime over the summer!

You can find out more about Watch Around Water at the link below.