TINTAGEL Surf Life Saving Club chairman, Les Freke, has been awarded a British Empire Medal for his civil service to the club and the community in the village.

The 68-year-old has been a part of the Trebarwith-based club since 1974 when he moved down to the area from Sussex for whom he used to swim for.

Within two years Les had qualified as a lifeguard and since then has held a variety of roles within the club including being the club’s trainer assessor, club captain and chairman as well as working as a lifeguard at the beach for a decade.

Over 60 young people each year have had the opportunity to develop team skills, water safety skills, first aid skills and how to engage safely with the treacherous coastline of North Cornwall.

This has also resulted in 120 people being trained as professional lifeguards, some of whom are working abroad and around 500 lives being saved at the beach.

As an instructor for the club he trains members to qualify in surf competence, surf life saving and to take part in county competitions. He also visits other county clubs to examine members. During the early days of Surf Lifesaving GB he took a leading role in the development of the current training manuals, which helped professionalise the National Lifeguard qualification.

One of his more popular events is the annual night hike offering young people the chance to develop leadership skills in challenging terrain and situations.

Reflecting on his award, Les was shocked but obviously delighted, especially as he had absolutely no idea of the nomination.

Les said: “I’d just come back from holiday and was feeling pretty jet-lagged and started looking through the post when I came across a brown envelope.

“I obviously opened it up and couldn’t believe it. I’m absolutely delighted to have received the award and I can’t thank those who nominated me from the club enough.”

As well as Les’ commitments with Tintagel, he also works for Surf Life Saving GB and is also busy away from the water.

He works for the Westcountry Ambulance Service as a community first responder, covering local villages such as Trebarwith, Treknow, Trewarmett and towards Boscastle.

As well as that, he owns The Silver Tree jewellery shop in Tintagel, and although semi-retired now, he still continues to work as well as taking his camper van on regular trips to France and beyond.

But despite notching up over 40 years of services to Tintagel Surf Live Saving Club, Les has no plans to pack it in anytime soon.

Les continued: “At the moment I’m fairly fit and healthy and am still enjoying it so I’ll continue to keep going for a while longer yet.

“We have a really strong Nippers section (aged 8-12) where there is a bit of a waiting list and we have our Youth section (12-21) and our Senior section (21-plus) so the club is going very well at the moment.

“We also now have three other trainer assessors which is great, as it means I can take a little bit more of a back seat and watch what’s going on.

“Tintagel Surf Life Saving Club is a brilliant family-based club where all the members support each other and make each other’s roles within the club a lot easier.”