A LIFELINE TO THE COMMUNITY
Many people in Glasgow know of the Glasgow Humane Society and the service it provides for the City and beyond. For over 200 years there has always been a fulltime Officer stationed at the Lifeboat station in readiness for a call anywhere in the West of Scotland.
Not known to a lot is the essential voluntary side of the Society, over the years there have always been people willing to help, from brushing a shed to even help build a new boathouse or assist in an emergency. Over the recent years this has been a formalisation into two main voluntary groups.
The main benefit that the Society has from using a voluntary body of people is that the web of volunteers spans from all walks of life and backgrounds. This allows the Society to have people with lots of different skills, knowledge, experience and allows people from all areas of the community to help assist.
Some of the Glasgow Humane Society Officers and Volunteers
Riverwatchers
This group of people are a bit like a neighbourhood watch scheme for the River and Glasgow ’s surrounding waterways all helping to make their city and community a safer and more enjoyable place to live in.
The Riverwatchers who are not only extra eyes for all parts of the River Clyde but for all Glasgow’s waterways providing vital daily information, sometimes even raising the alarm in time to prevent another accident. Riverwatchers come from all walks of life, a school boy who has noticed a lifebelt in the river or a mother out walking in the park noticing a strange object on the river bank. The community has a vital role in helping itself reporting dangerous activities on the river and river banks, noticing stolen or lost goods which can be recovered by the Lifeboat and even reporting antisocial behaviour around the river area such as drug and alcohol abuse which can so very often turn into a tragedy.
Lifeguard Corp
The Lifeguard Corp are a trained and committed group of volunteers helping fulltime Officers with day to day tasks, from maintenance, River Patrols, event safety cover, medical assistance and can be an additional support to help assist in emergency situations.
While all being voluntary the uniformed Lifeguard Corp strive to carry out their duties with the professionalism of the fulltime Officers and can at times be a vital link for the community. With their vast amount of local knowledge the Lifeguard Corp can prevent accidents by providing this extra service to the city, sometimes lending a friendly face to chat to or helping out visitors to the city. The main area that the Lifeguard Corp patrols, spans from way upriver at Cambuslang through the east end of the city, into and through the city centre to down River at the Science Centre. Quite often you may see a patrol around the River and surrounding areas, all members of the team are very approachable and more than willing to help provide a safer and more enjoyable environment around our beautiful waterway. At weekends the Lifeguard Corp are especially more active as the River and surrounding walkways become busier through leisure and commuting links.
Some of the small mundane tasks that the Lifeguard Corp carries out include removing small toys and attractive objects that could encourage a child or even an adult onto the river banking and putting them into a dangerous position.
While always trying to carry out water borne patrols as often as possible sometimes its is also suitable to carry out patrols on foot especially in the case of a major event on Glasgow Green, or sometimes even on bike thus being able to cover a greater area and provide an effective and fast response to incidents.
The Glasgow Humane Society Strives to serve the City and people of Glasgow. The people of Glasgow can also help their own city by helping the Glasgow Humane Society.
Antony D. Coia