By RON LANE
BETWEEN THE FLAGS
NEXT week is going to be one of the biggest for our surfing fraternity in many years. Tomorrow Friday 6 March, Noosa Festival of Surfing 2015 gets underway and on Saturday the lifesavers from our local clubs will contest the Senior Sunshine Coast Branch Championships at Alexander Headlands.
For our clubbies, the branch titles started last weekend when the new concept of the Youth Championships got underway at Alex. This carnival was for the u/11 to u/15. The overall points saw Sunshine Beach finishing third and Noosa fifth.
Last week, the Noosa club held its first biannual sponsors’ breakfast of the year. In his welcome to guests, club president Greg Cowie thanked the sponsors for their involvement.
“With our increasing number of nippers and senior members, our running costs are on the increasing and the role of the sponsors is and always will be vital. Apart from our responsibilities as lifesavers, our other role is to ensure that kids coming into our club are kept active. To do this, we must have professional training staff and programs in place. This we have achieved. Your sponsorship has played a vital role and we thank you most sincerely.”
The recent cyclonic weather with its floods and devastation has once again brought to the attention of the public the incredible and sometimes dangerous work done by those people who go by the name of volunteer.
The TV crews film and record their efforts, but once Mother Nature returns to normal, we tend to forget them. Till next time. But while waiting for the “next time” they are still on call, ready to move in day time or in the dead of night – on land or at sea.
In surf lifesaving, we have such people. They are called the Operations Support Group for lifesaving Queensland on the Sunshine Coast.
Their responsibilities are massive. This group covers duty officers, helicopters and all surf rescue craft. In addition, there is the After Hours Emergency Response Group and their duties also include the Disaster Management Area.
So who is responsible for all this? Well on the Sunshine Coast, it’s a clubbie named Dave McLean of the Marcoola Surf Life Saving Club. Dave McLean J.P. is a retired happily married man with two children. Both are lifesavers and teachers.
It all started when Dave joined Marcoola in 1976 and gained his bronze medallion. His brother John was at that time club captain and secretary.
With other brothers and a sister also joining, it became a family affair.
“I have had a long association with lifesaving and Marcoola”, Dave said, adding “38yrs to be exact. At present, I hold the position of club president, a position I held some time back, for five consecutive years.”
Apart from his club duties, Dave also sits on the Board of Surf Life Saving Queensland, a chair which he has held for the last six years.
His dedication and leadership has not gone unnoticed for he now holds Life Membership of not only the Marcoola club but also the Sunshine Coast branch and Surf Life Saving Queensland, his most recent award. In 1999, he was awarded the Queensland Volunteer of the Year and followed this with Queensland Life Saver of the Year in both 2007 /2010. Also in 2010, he received the highest accolade of all, the Australian Life Saver of the Year.
“I have attended many tragedies” McLean said, “but the double drowning at Marcoola in 1996 is what helped drive my passion to raise our after-hours service to where it is today.”
Away from lifesaving, he is also a member of the new Volunteers in Policing. It is men such as this that set the bar for others to reach. From us all- many thanks.
