Between the Lines By RON LANE
AMID the hustle and bustle of the Noosa Food and Wine Festival activities that on Saturday morning surrounded the Noosa Heads SLSC, the Noosa Seahorse Nippers continued on their merry way.
If you are wondering as to the success of this project you only had to mingle with the officials on Main Beach and someone could have taken the opportunity to introduce you to our visitors. There were 11 of them; all representatives from the Point Lookout Club on Stradbroke Island.
The reason for their visit was to have an up close and personal look at the running and organisation of the Noosa Seahorse Nippers. Now in its third and very successful year, its reputation has spread all along the East Coast and everything being said is indeed very positive.
Spokesman for the team Will Hagan, director of youth development for Point Lookout, said: “We are looking at starting a similar group back at our club, and we thought the best thing to do was to pay Noosa a visit. We think that the Seahorse is a great concept and we are very impressed with everything that we have seen. We are not the only ones looking at the program; people at Coochiemudlo are also looking and asking questions.”
Following their time on the beach, Noosa Seahorse directors Steve and Nikki Mawby played host to a breakfast on the surf club verandah and over coffee the questions came thick and fast.
“The discussion with the delegates was indeed very good they never stopped asking questions. There were a lot of young people involved and we came away from the discussion feeling very positive about the morning,” Mawby said. “They asked about everything; never missed a thing.”
A big thank you to the volunteer life savers who gather in the car park at 6am to organise parking for the Seahorse families. Without this team, getting to the beach would be near impossible for some families. It is also interesting to note that a lot of the life savers who work with the children, both in the water and on the sand are only in their early teens; and they love it.
“I think it’s great to be able to help and it also gives us a good feeling,” one 15-old-girl said. Her mates agreed. Congratulations to all concerned
While on the subject of Nippers, both Noosa and Sunshine Beach Nipper clubs have held their annual general meetings. All is looking well for the season ahead. Local parents now have good, well run clubs in which their children can start learning the basics of water safety.
The Noosa meeting revealed that as a result of working in conjunction with Peregian there are now a total of 642 Nippers on the books. The successful running of this number is due mainly to a program structure originated by retiring junior activities chairman Dave Glassock, and activated by his support team of office bearers and parents. To David and indeed his wife Jenny, your many years have been full of positivity, and your company our pleasure.
The flags for the volunteer life savers may be down for the winter months however surf education is still ongoing. At Noosa, education/training manager Greg McLaughlin continues to take surf education into our schools and IRB training continues.
For Sunshine Beach they also have started another IRB course with four drivers and three crewies in training.
Club captain Scott Summers said: “Everything is going well for us; all very positive. We have just had our biggest annual dinner and trophy presentation night for five years. Early June we take delivery of a new IRB Thundercat and this week we conduct our annual gear inspection with branch officials. All looking good for next season.”
