Number of people helped by RNLI in UK and Channel Islands doubled in 2025
The number of people helped by RNLI lifeguards on the beaches of the UK and the Channel Islands doubled last year and the charity believes the Middle East crisis may lead to an even busier spring and summer in 2026,While RNLI lifeguards went to the aid of about 18,000 people in 2023 and 2024, this leapt to more than 35,000 in 2025, the spike put down to a combination of good weather and an increased interest in seaside pursuits,The charity, which is celebrating its 25th year of providing lifeguard cover, is preparing for another bumper year if more people decide to stay closer to home for holidays because of the rising cost of living and as travelling to some long-haul holiday destinations may be less tempting,Peter Dawes, RNLI lifeguard general manager, said: “The statistics vary each year depending on the weather,Last year, with the bulk of summer being reasonably good, a lot of people went to the beach.
“The other variation that comes into play is a broader economic one.If we get a lot of people staying here for a holiday, then we are busier.It’s something we’re watching at the moment, with things going on around the world.We constantly assess the risks on our beaches, but part of that is how people are going to interact with the beaches.You have to be prepared.
”The RNLI began patrolling in 2001, with popular spots in Dorset and Cornwall the first to be covered, and it now operates on almost 250 beaches.Over 25 years, RNLI lifeguards have saved 2,165 lives, and aided 459,354 people.Their help has included rescues from water, returning lost children and delivering first aid and casualty care.They have responded to 333,330 incidents and carried out more than 48m preventive actions – such as advising swimmers to move away from a rip current or rocks or asking water users such as paddle-boarders or surfers to reposition for their safety.Dawes said other factors that had increased the workload of RNLI lifeguards ranged from the improvement of wetsuit technology, which allows people to stay in the water longer and not just in the warm summer months, to sporting trends.
“At different stages, we watched the development of coasteering and how more people have gravitated towards the standup paddle-boards.People find new and different ways of potentially getting in trouble and we have to find new and different ways of supporting them.”Lewis Timson, a lifeguard supervisor in Newquay, Cornwall, has been with the RNLI for the whole 25 years.He said the job has changed and is now more about preventing people from getting into trouble rather than rescuing them when they are in difficulty.“Twenty years ago, you’d be putting the flags up and monitoring, but you’d probably be doing a lot more rescues and not quite so much of the proactive stuff, the pushing out safety messages.
“They say a good lifeguard never gets wet but actually, when you’ve got hundreds of people on the beach, the odds are stacked against you and you do end up having to do rescues.”Surfing and cold water swimming is much more popular than it was in 2001.“There’s always hundreds of surfers in the water.But every year there’s a new bit of technology, whether it’s kite surfing, foil boards, electric foil boards … The ocean’s for everybody, so we just try to manage that the best we can,” said Timson.Rescues he particularly remembers include extricating a boy trapped in a hole on the beach that had collapsed in 2018.
Only his head was visible and lifeguards had to give the boy oxygen because the pressure on his chest was so intense.The same happened in 2021, when a man was completely buried by sand and lifeguards enlisted the help of 25 members of the public to dig him out.Lifeguards will be present on 39 beaches over the Easter weekend.The number of lifeguarded beaches will increase until there are more than 245 in July.
How to make Easter chocolate nests – recipe. | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
Much as I love Easter eggs – and I really do, despite being that irritating person still nibbling away at them at Christmas time – these charming, crunchy little nests full of colourful treasure are up there with hot cross buns as my favourite seasonal produce. Top tip: they’re even easier to make if you enlist a small sous chef or two to help stir the pan!Prep 20 min Cook 5 minChill 2 hr Makes About 1280g Shredded Wheat (about 3½ full-sized ones), or other cereal (see step 1)75g dark chocolate (see step 3)100g milk chocolate 35g butter, or vegan alternative50g golden syrup 1 pinch salt ¼ tsp mixed spice (optional)Finely grated zest of ¼ orange (optional)36 miniature chocolate eggs (about 115g)Shredded Wheat (or another brand of similar cereal) is not the only choice here: you could substitute corn or bran flakes, puffed rice, Weetabix and so on, but it does look the most authentically twig-like. Try to get the big ones, if possible, because it’s all too easy to crush the bite-size variety to dust.Break the Shredded Wheat into pieces (leave flaked cereals, puffed rice and so on whole, and crumble Weetabix) in a large bowl – use your hands, the end of a flat rolling pin or glass, or the bottom of a smaller bowl to do this, and aim for a variety of lengths, rather than crushing the cereal to smithereens.Almost any chocolate will work here (this is, in fact, a great use of last year’s Easter eggs or Christmas chocolate, if you still have some left), though be careful with white chocolate, which doesn’t always melt well
The Wellington, Margate, Kent: ‘Worth risking a werewolf attack to get to’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
The ever-changing menu is a paean to things that make me happyThe Wellington has been drawing crowds to Margate of late, due to a recent takeover by chef Billy Stock and front-of-house queen Ellie Topham. Stock is formerly of nearby Sète, which I loved very much, and also cooked at London’s The Marksman and St John, which is a pedigree that says: “I like feeding people proper food, not fancy, itsy-bitsy suggestions of food.” So with that, I set off to the south-east Riviera on a day when the weather ranged from hailstones to simply freezing gales.Much is said about Margate being freshly desirable, hip and charming, but on a freezing day at the tail end of winter, this seaside town certainly tests the prescription of one’s rose-tinted spectacles. None of the down-from-London brigade cries, “Let’s move to Margate!” as icy hail plink-plonks off their nose while they cower in the door of the Turner Contemporary
Five Guys CEO says he gave a $1.5m bonus to his workers so he wouldn’t get shot in the back
Five Guys’ chief executive officer, Jerry Murrell, said he gave a $1.5m bonus to employees of his US-based burger restaurant chain because “I didn’t want anybody shooting me” after the company recently “screwed … up” a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.Murrell did not elaborate on the comment, which he gave to Fortune in an interview published on Wednesday – but it came a little more than a year after the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on a midtown Manhattan street in what was widely considered a murderous rebuke of the US health insurance industry’s profit-driven practices.Fortune’s conversation with Murrell revisited a two-for-one promotion that Five Guys organized in February to celebrate its 40th anniversary that proved to be much more popular than the chain expected. Five Guys’ app crashed as customers sought to take advantage of the promotion, and many overwhelmed chain locations discontinued the offer early, inviting backlash on social media
Ready to order? 10 rules for UK’s restaurant diners
Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you, our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff.Turn up … Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God)
Is foraging really feasible to feed myself?
When I called Robin Greenfield, an environmental activist and author, his assistant answered. “We’re stopped really quick,” Marielle said, adding “he is harvesting a ton of wild onions right now. He’ll be on in just a minute.”I waited, curious to see his haul and bemused by his willingness to delay an interview for wild vegetables. I had called Greenfield, who wrote Food Freedom about the year he grew and foraged 100% of his food, to talk about how possible, or hard, it is to do just that
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for lemon lamington cake | The sweet spot
I think lamingtons should be much more popular than they are on this side of the world. One of my go-to coffee shops is Aussie-run and they always have a proud display of chunky, jam-filled, chocolate- and coconut-coated lamingtons. Making them isn’t complicated, just a little messy with all the filling and dipping of multiple cubes of cake in different bowls. In an attempt to streamline the process, and because giant versions of anything are always fun, I’ve made one extra-large lamington. It’s a wonderfully soft sponge, covered in lemon curd ganache and filled with plenty of cream, making for a very pretty Easter centrepiece
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