RAF families have enjoyed a day of ocean adventure in Newquay.

Newquay Activity Centre in Fore Street staged a free day of activities for RAF St Mawgan personnel and their family members at Fistral Beach, which included surfing, bodyboarding and lifeguard skills.

The event was held to celebrate the RAF St Mawgan Community Team launching a new RAF Families Wetsuit Programme to encourage children to enjoy the sea more and upcycle their wetsuits once they have grown out of them.

Newquay Activity Centre donated 10 children’s wetsuits to the programme as well as hosting the day of ocean activities.

The families were kitted up and briefed on the activities for the day and then headed off to enjoy perfect waves and enjoy bodyboarding and surf coaching with the Newquay Activity Centre team at Fistral Beach.

The group of 24 children and parents embraced the surf on Fistral beach, riding waves and practicing some lifeguarding skills which covered ocean awareness, scenario training and beach safety. 

Station Commander Helen Simpson, who attended the day, said “Newquay Activity Centre put on a wonderful day for our personnel and their families surfing at Fistral Beach, the smiles were infectious.

“It’s great to be able to work alongside a trusted local business to help support and develop our people through adventurous activities.”

Rob Barber, the owner of Newquay Activity Centre, said ‘We are passionate about the ocean and encourage more people to get in the sea and to come and experience the different ocean experiences that we offer.

“We have a long-standing relationship with RAF St Mawgan, supporting their RAF surf team and providing coastal based Adventure Training programmes, so it's always nice to invite all the family down for a day of ocean fun.

“We are thrilled to be supporting this new wetsuit programme and we hope that some of the RAF personnel have caught the surfing bug! It’s also great to teach lifeguarding skills so that we are sharing knowledge about water and beach safety, we're looking forward to welcoming the RAF Families back for another activities day in June”

Newquay Activity Centre provides exclusive military discounts to military personnel and is a lead sponsor of the Navy surf team, a supporter of the RAF Wave Riders and the Army surf team. Newquay Activity Centre has also signed the official Armed Forces Covenant which marks their continued support for all military forces, veterans, reservists, regulars and their families. On top of this they also offer Armed Forces Adventure Training packages covering everything from kayaking and Super SUP to surf survivor and castaway challenges.