A SURF life saving club in the St Austell area has benefited from a donation package worth nearly £10,000.

Carlyon Bay Surf Life Saving Club, which was launched last year, was in need of kit and storage to help get beach sessions up and running for children.

Minerals giant Imerys stepped in to provide an old shipping container, which once delivered was renovated by club volunteers. Imerys also arranged new signs and funded insurance for the club.

Since then Imerys British Lithium has agreed to provide seven nipper boards – mini rescue boards that young members of the club use to practise their paddling skills.

Ben Cordier, from the club, said: “The club was formed as a charity to provide water safety education and to train members on how to save people from drowning, both at sea and at inland water bodies such as the many disused clay pits surrounding St Austell.

“We have been incredibly fortunate to receive donations and support from across the community, but the fantastic support we received from Imerys in our formative months was really vital to getting the club off the ground in the first place.

“As a new club, there is a huge range of equipment we need to train our members. With the addition of boards provided by Imerys British Lithium, our team of volunteers have been able to train more of our Sandhoppers (under-8s) and Nippers (aged eight to 12) to have the full range of skills they need to help someone in trouble in the water.

“To test their new-found skills, the Nippers used the boards during a recent sponsored Paddle the Channel event, where our members collectively paddled 21 miles, equivalent to the width of the English Channel! One Nipper actually managed 6km – an amazing feat for that age!

“We’re currently raising funds to purchase some transition boards that are more suitable for our youth (teenage) members, the next step in building their skills and helping them progress towards accredited vocational qualifications. Donations are still being very gratefully received through www.carlyonbayslsc.com/paddle-the-channel, with every little helping.”

Mark Hewson, who leads Imerys in the UK and is an Imerys British Lithium director, said of the donations: “Carlyon Bay has such a strong historical link to the clay industry, so we are delighted to be able to support such a fantastic club on this beach.

“We hope that over time this builds to more RNLI presence on this stretch on the south coast. Imerys has two ports and countless bodies of water in mid-Cornwall, so water safety education is incredibly important to us.”

Other groups looking for funding or support around St Austell and the clay villages can email [email protected]