Message from Club President, Andy

Hi Everyone

I hope you had a great Easter break.

The hurly burly of the summer season has finished for now with the last patrol weekend, Sunday morning club days, and competition season all coming to an end over the last fortnight. Thank you to all those involved in the final weeks of the summer season. It all went so quickly. Of course, we still have the Aussies to come in April and the IRB competition season is not far away. We have a good group of Athletes heading for the Aussies, representing lots of different features and demographics of competition in surf lifesaving.

Club Awards nominations

Thank you to everyone who nominated fellow members for our club awards. It was a fantastic response and the nominations represented (yet again) the breadth and depth of contributions made by members across the club. Many of these members will be recognised at the Club Awards night in May when finalists and winners are announced, along with many of the discipline (surf sports, patrolling etc) awards.

Taking stock

The ‘off season’ (for much, but not all the club) represents a time to take stock and plan for the short- and long-term future of the club. I have variously mentioned the development of new Club Strategic plan. This represents some of the taking stock as we consider what and how we want the club to look like into the future (short and long term). This plan will be with members soon, but by way of an insight into one or two areas of focus I’ll mention the following:

Firstly, much of the feedback we have received through various forums, surveys and responses has focused on the ‘members’ wish to develop the social fabric and infrastructure of the club, and to focus on activities and events that bring members together. This dovetails with a need for activities and resources that allow members to sustain a healthy active lifestyle, again with others and with a social focus.

The common goal that brings members of a surf lifesaving club  together is education for safe interaction with water (ocean, rivers, pools etc), and training and preparation for lifesaving in all its different guises. The context for this is a collection of people that enjoy doing this together, and buildings and resources that support this. Accordingly, the new strategic plan will recognise this feedback and have a focus on supporting the social fabric and health and wellbeing of all members towards a healthy active lifestyle. We are mindful of the need to provide resources and activities that bring people together through quality social, recreation and sporting contexts.

Secondly, the club needs high quality facilities and resources. We have a great ‘upstairs’ environment (with more planned to add additional value), and we have a significant refurbishment of our ‘downstairs’ bathrooms underway (in regards planning and engineering), but storage is still an issue, and the gym is tired. The Board has already begun discussing / lobbying for potential support from local members (with an election on the horizon) and we will continue to progress and discuss options to ‘future proof’ club facilities and resources, through short term (2024-27) and long term (within 10 years) plans.

Ok, more on how the club is ‘taking stock’ in the coming weeks.

For those of you on school holidays – make the most of the time and enjoy. For those in the world of work – take care. For those retired and or ‘taking time away’ – lucky ducks !

Regards Andy