Wimbledon has begun distributing free sun cream samples to protect spectators from the scorching sun during a fresh heatwave. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued a yellow heat health alert for London from midday on Saturday, July 4, until 8pm on Saturday, July 11.
Temperatures set to soar
According to the Met Office, temperatures could reach 28°C on Saturday, rising to 29°C on Sunday, and approaching the low 30s next week before peaking at 34°C on Thursday or Friday. The tennis tournament runs until Sunday, July 12.
Stewards at Wimbledon now have 500,000 free sun cream samples and water to hand out where needed. La Roche-Posay, recently announced as the exclusive suncare supplier for Wimbledon, is providing the sunscreen samples. Around half a million people are expected to attend the tournament over its two weeks.
On-site pharmacy and precautions
An on-site pharmacy also sells sun cream, including a La Roche-Posay 50SPF spray costing £27.50. Military service stewards Able Seaman Michelle Rowlands and Corporal Gillian Craig said sunstroke is the biggest risk to spectators.
Ms Craig said she is in a "good position" to see the crowds on the courts, adding: "We've got free sun cream out this year, extra water kindly donated by Evian, like all these little things we're learning and putting into place each year. Plus being on the centre court, we know the schedule of the sun."
Learning year on year
She said "we learn year on year", adding: "Every year, the club gets much better at managing it for the spectators." Ms Rowlands explained that military personnel are "all trained in heat protection and heat prevention", adding: "If someone goes down, we would know what to do."
Ms Craig said she has not had to spring into action this year, but that last year was hot. She said: "We're learning all the time and we have the skillset from sort of our day-to-day role to bring it in, so we all have an absolute base level of first aid training, and, as Michelle said, we do heat illness prevention training each. But with our different experiences and being in different places in the world, like that's what makes us unique to the club, and to be able to really help with that."
Heatwave forecast
Regarding the upcoming heatwave, Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: "We have got a heatwave on the way across parts of southern England and Wales, temperatures are already quite high across the South East today, we could get 28C in London. Elsewhere, it's not as hot as we have got temperatures closer to average but they will climb as we go into next week.
"The northern areas of the country will be cloudier with spells of rain at times, so there's a north/south split. There will be highs of 29C tomorrow in the south. At the start of next week we will see temperatures approach the low 30s. The peak of the heat appears to be Thursday or Friday, 34C in the South East. By comparison to the heatwave we saw in June, this heatwave won't be as hot and humid, but it will be a prolonged spell of hot weather which lasts around a week."
