A CELEBRITY lifeguard will be officially opening a new clubhouse for Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club.

Formerly based at a small wooden hut, the group of volunteer beach lifeguards now have a new, modern clubhouse, which was boosted by a £50k grant from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund.

The purpose-built training facility on Southbourne Beach will house changing rooms, a classroom, and a balcony to offer the lifeguards a better vantage point.

It will also house the club’s inshore rescue boats, which previously had to be housed away from the base.

Trent ‘Maxi’ Maxwell, from Australia’s Network Ten TV hit show Bondi Rescue, will be at the grand opening of the new clubhouse this month when he visits the UK.

Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club’s secretary, Philip Younger, said he was “very, very happy” about the official opening of the new facility.

“It’s taken us many years to get this new building. We were working from a very small hut – it was just a garage.

“We knocked it down and used the same footprint for the new station. It has male and female changing rooms, and upstairs has a training room. There’s also a nice balcony, which we use for looking out to sea – and it’s also very useful when we have lost children.”

He added: “We have inshore rescue boats, which we used to have to take home or leave in people’s gardens, but now we can keep them on the premises.”

The club will hold its grand opening on Saturday, May 27. Maxi will cut the ribbon to the new clubhouse at 2pm.

Also on the day, volunteers will demonstrate their lifesaving skills and offer CPR classes and stand up paddleboard trial sessions.

The club has members ranging from the age of seven to 70 and teaches the volunteers lifesaving skills and how to use rescue equipment. It also teaches beach safety, first aid, and members even compete with other surf lifesaving teams across the region.

The club hut can be found at the bottom of St Catherine’s Hill, near to Bistro on the Beach.