By RON LANE
ON SUNDAY morning at 10am members of the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club gathered at the club for the 87th Annual General Meeting and Election of Officers.
Attended by members the annual report tabled by retiring president Greg Cowie gave a glowing indication of the season just past.
In his report Cowie acknowledged work done by all sections of the club; patrolling, administration, competition and the supporter club. In doing so he also recognised those individual members whose contribution went beyond the call of normal duties.
With regard to the Peregian assistance project he said, “It has certainly been the single most demanding and exhaustive undertaken by the members and staff this season, and by all accounts, has never been attempted anywhere in Australia before.
“The eyes of the lifesaving fraternity are certainly watching us as we work through the logistics of this undertaking.”
As Noosa Today goes to press the advances made on the matter have all been very positive indeed, and all involved are to be congratulated.
Regarding the Supporter Club which has the job of providing the necessary finance required to give both our patrolling members and competitors the state-of-the-art equipment, Cowie said, “We have the added advantage of being underpinned by an incredibly stable and supportive Supporters Club.
“Ian Young OAM and the Supporter Club committee, together with Anton Mogg, Les Evans and staff have continued to astound us all.
“To have an organization like that providing the fantastic financial platform that we enjoy, really sets a tone of envy amongst our competitors in the lifesaving organization.”
But perhaps one of the most important aspects of the report was the statistics which reveal all details of patrolling and beach activities. They tell us there were 286,196 beach attendances, covered by 820 hours of patrols; with the total number of hours patrolled by volunteer members being a staggering 17,314 hours for the season.
These duties were performed by a total of 479 members. During the hours of patrol they performed 54 rescues, two resuscitations and 356 first-aid responses. Also recorded were the 2772 preventable actions – preventable action figures are vital, giving an indication as to the alertness of the patrols. These actions prevent a minor incident becoming what could easily become a dangerous rescue situation.
With regards to the junior activities, (the Nippers) Dave Glassock chairman congratulated all involved with the running of the club as it had been possibly the biggest and toughest in Nipper history.
He then went on to say, “This year just ten days before the start of the Nipper season, Noosa Heads SLSC, took over the operational requirements for Nippers at Peregian Beach.
“This meant having to ensure two Nipper Programs running concurrently at two different beachers 17 kilometres apart, were safe and compliant.
“It also meant that Noosa Nippers became the largest Nipper program in Queensland, with a staggering 642 participants.”
Despite the overload it was a remarkably successful season; a big ‘well done’ to Dave, workers and parents.
The election of officers saw David James elected president and the retiring president Greg Cowie elected to the office of vice president. The retirement of Peter French as director of Surf Sports saw Dan Capps elected to that office while Craig Moore was elected to the director of finance. Following the retirement of JAC Chairman Dave Glassock for health reasons, his position was taken up by Samantha Smith. We wish them all well.
It is only fitting that the outstanding dedication and hard work of not only Dave Glassock, but also his entire family should be acknowledged. During the latter part of the Nipper season, with Dave’s health failing, the family stood united to support his every need. A surf club family of the highest order.
