Two Noosa volunteers, Lenore Grice and Helen Park are among 119 Queenslanders who have been named in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours List – acknowledged for their outstanding service and inspiring achievements – Lenore for her service to surf lifesaving and Helen for her service to water polo.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk congratulated the recipients, saying following Her Majesty The Queen’s historic Platinum Jubilee last week, earning a place on this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List would no doubt hold extra significance.
Lenore Grice
Lenore Grice welcomed her OAM with a mix of excitement, pride, humility and gratitude to the Surf Life Saving organisation.
“I’m grateful for (them) for trusting me to mentor the youth and for all the support you get,“ she said.
“You don’t get awards as an individual.
“You never join to get the accolades. These people become your family and I’ve loved every minute of it.“
It was 50 years ago this October when Lenore Grice was introduced to Noosa SLSQ by a work colleague who had entered the Surf Girl Quest and asked her for help to fundraise.
From that first weekend in 1972 and then a single mother with a one-year-old son, Luke, Lenore signed on to volunteer, travelling from Brisbane to Noosa Heads where until 1996 she “did the raffles” on a Friday night. She also ran the chook raffle at The Reef hotel during Sunday sessions.
“I worked for the PMG in the telegram section. It was a fantastic job,” she said.
“We did weather reports, flood warnings, sports reports, media releases from politicians. We did announcements of births, deaths, engagements and weddings. We followed quite a few romances through with the ‘I love you telegrams’.
“We worked shift work. I worked 7am to 3pm Friday and then I did a 2pm-10pm on Monday, so I wouldn’t have to leave for work until mid-morning.
“The surf club was hard to beat. When you have a marriage breakdown and a young baby, I thought my life was falling apart.
“It gave me confidence. It gave me a life and many life-long friends.
“It would have been so different if I hadn’t been introduced to the club.
“We had a fantastic life. Luke had a lot of male role models who were good to him.
“Surf lifesaving has been very good to me, that’s why I keep giving back.”
Lenore was so dedicated to Noosa Surf Lifesaving Club that it didn’t faze her when she began that women were excluded from the club.
When Lenore first arrived in Noosa, there were 10 active members of the club, and females were not admitted.
“You could go to the upstairs bar, called the supporters club, but you weren’t allowed downstairs in the active side of lifesaving.
“I was there with a one-year-old baby with the women whose husbands were doing patrols, and we would have to wait outside in the hot sun.”
Noosa was more progressive than most clubs, allowing women into the club in the late ’70s, and, in 1987, electing Lenore as honorary secretary, a position she held until 1989, and then again from 1995 to 1997.
In 1980 Lenore began training members in first aid for the skills it contributed, to provide an activity for those not interested in more athletic pursuits of surf sports and for competition.
She became Noosa Heads first aid competition coach for the years 1984-97, 2007-09 and 2015-20.
In 1986, the Noosa Heads first aid team won a gold medal in the Australian Championships. It was the first Australian gold medal for the club in its history.
Lenore also took on the roles of first aid coach for Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club from 1998-2020 and Surf Life Saving Australia competition official from 1989 to 2020.
In the 1980s, women won the right to become full members of surf lifesaving clubs, but they were still prohibited from competing in surf sport events.
Lenore said at that time many women took up first aid as it was an area that was open to them.
Over the years Lenore has coached many young people in first aid and is proud of the large percentage that have gone on to careers in medical fields as doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics.
In recent decades, women have become adopted into all aspects of the SLSQ.
Despite the long history of disparity between the sexes, Lenore said she had found the organisation to be a great leveller.
“You make lots of fantastic friends and you rub shoulders with all sorts,” she said.
“Just look at Tony Abbott. You could be on patrol with a former prime minister. Members can be QCs or everyday mums and dads. You can stand side by side with people who are amazing in their own field but you’re all the same on the beach and these people may become your friends.”
Lenore has won a string of awards during her 50 years of volunteering, including Surf Lifesaving Australia 75th Anniversary medallion for outstanding service (1982), life membership of Noosa Heads Surf Lifesaving Club (1990), life membership of Maroochydore Surf Lifesaving Club (2015), life membership of Surf Lifesaving Sunshine Coast branch (2003), citation from World Lifesaving Association for valuable contribution to lifesaving (1997), International Lifesaving Federation citation of merit for devotion to the cause of lifesaving in the aquatic environment (2002), Surf Lifesaving Queensland Coach of the Year (2005), Certificate of Merit Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame (2013) and induction into the Surf Lifesaving Australia Hall of Fame (2014). She can now add Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) to the list.
“You don’t think you’ll be here for 50 years. It just becomes your social life and I’ve been very fortunate to have been involved with it,“ she said.
