Moore Park Beach Surf Life Saving Club celebrated 65 years on Saturday and recognised key contributors at its annual dinner and awards night.
Club president Leigh Schuch said the evening celebrated the season. She thanked patrolling members and the volunteers who chipped away behind the scenes, saying the club wouldn’t run efficiently without their dedication.
“They all put in a huge effort – over 2300 hours just for this season,” Leigh said.
“And there were nearly 200 preventative actions in Moore Park and one major rescue as well.”
One member who played a key role in keeping the Moore Park Beach safe this year was Lynne Messer, who was awarded Life Saver of the Year for 2019.
“She is one of the backbones to our club,” Leigh said.
“Lynne wears multiple hats as she is club captain, treasurer, training officer and assessor, plus she patrolled 148 hours this season.”
Lynne said she’d been with Queensland Surf Life Saving for 22 years and a member at Moore Park Beach for 17 years.
“I didn’t come up through the nipper ranks and joined when I was about 30 something,” Lynne said.
“I joined because I couldn’t swim very well – I am a bit of an introvert and would never have thought I would ever get up in front of people and train them.
“But that is what surf lifesaving does, it opens up a lot of doors.”
She was surprised by the award and honoured to be part of a great team.
“I think we are all valuable members in the club, I couldn’t be club captain without all the guys behind me,” she said.
Taking out Moore Park Surf Life Saving Club Volunteer of the Year was Sandi Davis, 19, but she was not able to attend the evening as she is travelling overseas.
“She been our junior coordinator for the last couple of years and revamped the nippers and encouraged more young people to participate,” Leigh said.
“Sandi has introduced a number of different activities to engage the kids, which is really great and what we need.”
Leigh said celebrating 65 years of keeping the Moore Park Beach community safe in the water was a great achievement and something they were all proud of.
There is only 12 weeks until the Surf Life Saving Queensland season starts again on local beaches.
Divisional representative Cr Jason Bartels said having a organisation like this in Moore Park Beach was essential and played an important role in the beachside community.
“Celebrating 65 years is a wonderful achievement and we want to see them prosper and keep going for many more years; it’s just great,” Cr Bartels said.
Sport and recreation portfolio spokesperson Cr Helen Blackburn praised the efforts of the both the volunteers and paid life savings.
“The surf lifesavers do a fantastic job and Council supports them financially as well as ethically with what they are doing,” Cr Blackburn said.
“It’s fantastic they have these awards nights where they recognise these people who have gone over and above, and of course they have many that do because it’s a small club and they really are united.”
With 31 patrolling members and 130 members in total at the club, Leigh said it was like one big family, and they were always looking for more members.
“Keep an eye out in early September for sign-on. Patrols start the first weekend of the September school holidays when we raise the red and yellow again on our beaches,” Leigh said.
- Lynne was also finalist for the 2019 Brian Prince Volunteer of The Year Awards.
- Council supports surf lifesavers to provide vital service
