Ron Lane
In these days and weeks of hardship and heart break, there are times that makes us proud to be an Aussie, including the way that complete strangers will step forward and put their hand up to help families or a person in distress.
I am happy to relate some who have now been doing this are our athletes.
There is one story that made me sit up and take note and it comes out of my old home town of Gympie. Having been born, raised and educated in Gympie, I have had occasion to witness many years of flooding that cut off the town and left people isolated for a long period of time. Luckily for me, my family residence was in an area of Ashford Hill Road that left us high and dry. But hundreds of others were not so lucky.
Last weekend was fairly rough for a nurse on the staff of the Gympie Hospital. While going about her duties her road home had been cut by the flood waters leaving her stranded.
Imagine the feeling when, on being able to return to her home, she found it, like many others, a total mess. Somehow, through a mutual friend, word of this woman’s distress was bought to the attention of a member of the Noosa, Coolum surf boat rowing fraternity. As soon as was possible, a bus and motor pool were organised and a team of some 20-plus surf boat rowers and supporters travelled to Gympie to assist with her predicament.
“The response from local neighbours was incredible,” said Andrew Fox of Noosa.
“They came from nearby and bought coffee, tea, sandwiches and water. We sat down together had smoko then went back to work.”
The response from our boat rowers was good to see. Not too many of today’s generation would be aware of the fact that in the early 1960s, the Gympie Lions, on becoming aware that the Noosa club had nothing but a very old boat (that had been declared unseaworthy), decided to act.
The Lions’ interest in the club came as a result of the fact that the majority of the Noosa lifesavers were from Gympie. This, plus the Sunday picnic trips via the Gympie Lewis Brothers Bus Service to Noosa’s Main Beach, was a common occurrence. The club was approached by Lions’ representatives, a meeting was held and the Lions took on the purchase of a new boat for the club as a major project, and the rest was history.
To be able to perform even a small service, (despite the years) for the people of Gympie in thanks for their help in our time of crisis, is indeed a good feeling.
While speaking of our rowers – congratulations to the Coolum reserve grade ladies’ crew who recently represented their state and won the Australian Surf Rowers League Open Championship of Australia.
The Noosa Barbell club, which is an integral part of the Crossfit 4566 community, is definitely going from strength to strength.
The good news just to hand is that 18-year-old Taj Marsh has been selected as a member of the Australian Junior Weightlifting Team for the Oceanic Titles to be held in May.
This young man, apart from his weightlifting success, is also a highly respected patrolling member of the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club.
Speaking with his very proud father and coach Woogie Marsh, he said, “There is at present one small problem. Being a Kiwi, we are waiting for his citizenship papers to be finalised, and we are holding our breath and crossing our fingers and pulling every string imaginable but we are sure that all will be settled in time.”
Now with the weather starting to settle and the Covid restrictions starting to ease, the competition program hopefully, will stay as planned . That is five weeks to the State Youth and U/15 Titles, 10 weeks to the Masters and, all being , four months to the Nationals.
For a club that is definitely on the move, we wish the Barbell club and its members all the best.
For the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving club it has indeed been a sad week with the announcement that life member and former chief instructor Terry Skeeter Williams has died.
Skeeter, who joined the club in the early 1960s, was one of those people who served both his community as a lifesaver and his country as a member of the Royal Australian Air Force.
As a member of the surf club, apart from his duties as chief instructor, he was very active as a competitor, representing his club as a surf swimmer, R& R team member, boat sweep and rower. As a junior member of the club, he was chosen to represent Queensland in a state club team that toured New Zealand.
Next week, in Our People we take a closer look at this man who, in his own quiet way, did so much for so many in the world of sport.
