By RON LANE
THE policy of getting our surf clubs more involved in community activities has never been more obvious than during the April May period of this year. The changing face of modern lifesaving has indeed become very interesting.
Way back in the days of old our clubs depended on the good old chook raffle and the occasional social function, plus the house-to-house door knocks for badly needed funds. None of these functions would have succeeded without the whole hearted support of the community.
So it is good to see that now in this modern era with some lifesaving clubs moving into the world of business, they are in turn offering their help and expertise where applicable. With the advent of the Supporter Clubs, it really enables the lifesavers to become more a part of the community.
To summarise this, our clubs have in a two-month period been involved in the Anzac Dawn Service at Main Beach, supplied water safety officials for two major sporting at Main Beach, continued to take beach safety and surf awareness in all schools from Coolum to Pomona, helped sponsor Mates 4 Mates Disabled Serviceman Program and continued support and promotion of Noosa Seahorse Nippers. Also this month, Noosa hosted Circle of Sound a music event used to promote and help U/17 talent; and again the Surf Club made bursaries available on application to local organisations.
Noosa Surf Club general manager Anton Mogg, who back in his younger days was a highly regarded Melbourne D.J. said, “Helping the young singers is yet another part of our contribution to our community; we are only too happy to work with the families involved.”
When it comes to local support of our projects, many thanks must go to Ian McPharlin of the Outrigger Resort for sponsorship of the Mates 4 Mates people. They made available accommodation for a large group for three nights, thus helping to make the visit of Australian and British veterans a possibility.
Saturday morning the Seahorse Nippers held their final session for this season and some 33 nippers were in attendance and, under the watchful eye of 42 leaders and helpers, they took part in all activities. At the completion, all were presented with their medal of participation, T-shirt and certificate. The presentation was carried out by Jordan Mercer and Lachlan Lansdown, who recently returned from Mexico where they won the gold medals in their division of the I.S.A. World Sup and Paddle Board Championships; meeting these two local world champions was a great thrill for the children.
Once again Noosa played host to visitors interested in the running of this special group. Jacob Thompson from the Sunshine Coast branch a Membership Development co-coordinator for Queensland Surf Life Saving, and Bob and Sue Horsfall from the Coochiemudlo S.L.S.C. had a close look and were very impressed. “Both our club and Pt. Lookout are island clubs, so we will work in conjunction and conduct our sessions at Raby Bay. Because of the type of club we run, we are mainly concerned with the younger members. For us, it is not just lifesaving and patrols; we take them on camping trips and other projects. Everything we do is all about youth development. They are our main goal,” Horsfall said.
This weekend I.R.B.teams from surf lifesaving clubs all along the coast will converge on Noosa’s Main Beach for two days of racing. As previously stated, the winter months are busy times with training and competition, as these crews spend the summer months patrolling our beaches. The program will get underway at 8am Saturday, and we invite the general public to come along and enjoy the racing.
