| Unfortunately the New Year period into early January has been marred by the terrible bushfires that have devastated many communities and destroyed significant wildlife and bushland. Our friends in the South Coast Surf Clubs have played a vital role in assisting with emergency accommodation and other forms of relief, once again demonstrating the value of Surf Life Saving and volunteerism in the local community. The head of the Rural Fire Service Shane Fitzsimmons who has done such a great job managing the firefighting efforts was recently quoted as follows: “Well-intentioned people think there is something wrong with not paying volunteers, but volunteers don’t want to be paid…[think] of anything in your community that happens well and you will find it’s underpinned by volunteerism. It’s a critical part of the social fabric. As an employer, you could not recruit the skills mix you get from a team on one of our fire trucks, everything from academics to arty-farties, sports-mad types, retirees. It’s an extraordinary blend of skills and experience, which makes them highly resourceful.” What a great insight from Shane into the true value of volunteerism. I would like to think these thoughts apply equally to Surf Clubs members, including ours. We have tried to play our part in fund raising through bucket brigades, BBQ’s and working with our neighbouring club Bondi in delivering supplies to affected communities. So many people have assisted and in due course we will recognise the efforts of our members in raising funds for the Surf Clubs located in the worst affected communities. At this time, a couple of call -outs include Danny Ekins who has arranged the BBQ’s, bucket shakes and other efforts, Mark Cotter who liaised with Branch and SLSNSW, Stew O’Regan who did some great grass roots fund raising, arranging from the masters group to buy and deliver generators to the South Coast towns and Peta Estens who assisted Bondi with packing and coordinating the donated goods. Our Club Patron has also (quietly and on the low down) agreed to make a significant personal contribution to the fund raising efforts. There are many others so forgive any unintended omissions. On a more positive note, we managed to hold the Clearview Rough Water Ocean swim in challenging conditions with a strong field of competitors. We also have the North Bondi Classic coming up on 9 February. Our Competition Section has performed well in the season to date. We have some big carnivals coming up on the weekend at Manly and Freshwater and following these in our next e-news we will provide a full update on how our team is tracking so far. We will be holding a Bronze graduation for the new BM3 group on Sunday 9 February. We have Australia Day celebrations planned for this Sunday please see details below. There has been a call for stories and photos for any members who have something to contribute to the 40 Years of Women in Surf Sports. We have received a few great contributions so far but would like more please. Ready Aye Ready Andrew Christopher President |
21/04/2024
