BURNLEY has the best swimming pool lifeguards in Britain.

A team from the Thompson recreation centre have proved they can cope with emergencies better than anyone else in the country.

Keith Hewson, Gail Smith, Scott Bryce and Paul Foster beat 28 teams from all over Britain and Ireland in a contest in London at the weekend.

Competitors were set realistic tasks to test their life-saving, first-aid and customer-relations skills.

A range of scenarios were set up in which teams had to deal with injuries and complaints, and the competition ended with a relay race, which the Burnley team won.

"We are very pleased," said team manager Nick Davies, who also took part in the race. "It is a hard-earned award and it proves our lifeguards have the ability to cope with any situation."

The team won trophies for the overall title and the race from the London Guild of Sport and Recreation Managers, which staged the contest.

"The competition was tough," added Nick. "We were up against the best three teams to qualify from every region."

They had to demonstrate how they would supervise a pool as they were put through a demanding three minutes with swimmers suffering cramp and injuries, learners in the deep end and argumentative customers.

To test skills away from the pool, another scenario was a children's party, where there were head injuries, a choking child and panicking parents.

"They were the sort of things that lifeguards deal with every day," said Nick. "But not usually all at once in a three-minute period."

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