The 2015-16 season was our best in many years down at Bungan Beach. The leadership team at the Club worked strongly over the past season to deliver a record year in terms of new awards, particularly in IRBs and to deliver flawless patrolling results through the whole season.

BUNGAN BEACH SLSC

It was very pleasing for me, to be able to have fantastic support from a great mix of experience and youth on the Board of Directors of the Club. Thanks, particularly, to our Life Saving Director / Club Captain Aidan Clark for his diligence and service over the past season.

He led the way in patrolling and also competition and has been the driving force in seeing Bungan continue to do well in IRB competition with exciting additions of a new IRB and new ATV through this past season.

As we move into the new season, we will continue to focus on ensuring a strong patrolling strength and continuing to grow our competition efforts.

On the beach, it was a successful year, with all patrols well attended and a growing number of Club members gaining additional awards in IRB, Resuscitation, Spinal Management and, of course, Bronze Medallions.

Congratulations to all who earned their life saving awards this past season and special thanks to the training team led by our Education Director Phoebe Dobb, who has done an outstanding job, supported by the training team in the Club.

Once again our partnership with Barker College has been a great success. The Club has now enjoyed this relationship for 27 seasons and we can proudly show a complete generation of senior lifesavers who are still patrolling more than 20 years on, and who have joined the Club through association with Barker.

Bungan and Barker continue to work closely together in training and competition and I thank the Surf Life Saving staff at Barker, particularly Matthew Lloyd and Steve Deveney for their support and for the ongoing financial sponsorship provided by the school.

Thanks must also go to our other sponsors - Barker College, Pittwater RSL Club and Isagenix for their support this past season.

Also to the Branch sponsors we say thank you for your support on behalf of the Club.

On the competition front this year, Bungan was back in the medals at the NSW Championships. Congratulations, in particular, to Jack Brown for his second place in the U17 2km run at State.

I am excited to see Bungan back competing in IRBs as well in the off season and look forward to seeing strong results from the team.

On a sad note, the Club lost two Life Members during the year - Dayne Coulton and Ken Trembath. Ken was well known through the surf boat rowing community, and the Club was pleased to be able to host a memorial day in May to farewell two of Bungan’s longest serving and most beloved members. They will both be dearly missed.

I look forward to another successful season in 2016-17.

Rod McGibbon

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NEWPORT SLSC

We have 19 new Australian Champions in our midst. Sandy Menzies

We started the pre-season run up with a successful gear inspection and then the return of our Annual Basin Camp for our younger members from under 14s to cadets, and their young adult mentors. This is a fabulous way to start the season, and a good time was had by all.

Suddenly, patrols were off to a flying start, and there were carnivals at our beach right left and centre – all handled with the calm get it done attitude that our Club masters.

We achieved many things this past season:

In Education we have many new members with Bronze Medallions and Surf Rescue Certificates who now proudly wear their uniforms on patrol, and are feeling part of our Club.

Nippers, including the Special Needs Program, had a fantastic year. Our numbers have been steady, which can be attributed to our Club culture and members. Each week is a joy for all these young people, and it is all due to the Nipper Committee, Age Managers, water safety, BBQ team and parents who are so enthusiastic and go above and beyond to make sure this program happens each week.

In Lifesaving, our patrols have been vigilant and proactive and have together completed 11,664.25 patrolling hours with:

39 Rescues most common rescue method being rescue tube – (25)1710 Preventions145 First aid

It has also be great to have our two patrol support members with us throughout the season. These two young members have graduated up through our Marlins and Dolphins Nipper program and their presence enhances our Club and makes us truly diverse and rich. Thank you to Haley Marr and Joel Budd for your help. I hope next year to have some more of our Marlins and Dolphins group able to join in as well.

In Surf Sports

We have 9 new Surf Sports OfficialsWe came first in the Branch Open ChampionshipsWe came first in the State Open ChampionshipsWe were third in the Australian Open Championships. Though this is one place lower than last year, we doubled our point score, so an amazing result from a talented group of athletes.

We were well represented in the under 15’s age and masters events.

We won our first ever First Aid Australian Gold medal thanks to the skills of our under 15 girls First Aid Team of Linda Leck and Lily Tancred – an amazing achievement for both girls.

We have 19 new Australian Champions in our midst.

Our sub-committees have all worked hard to ensure we seek out new sponsors, increase revenue from our bar and Club functions, that surf sports compliance is covered and all programs run efficiently.

None of these programs can operate without the amazing people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to assist, so thank you to our Trainers, Assessors, Facilitators, Surf Sports Officials, Coaches, parents, water safety and others who give their time to share their knowledge and encourage others to achieve their goals.

From our core business side, thank you to our Patrol Captains and patrol teams for volunteering their time to make our beach safe for the local community and visitors. Without your passion and time we could not do what we do, or do it so well.

As a large diverse Club it is important we work as a team and remain focused on our goals and compliance, and this is part of the role of our Management Committee. As we all know it can sometimes be a very hard job, but they all work together for the best interests of the Club and to help us grow. Thank you to all of you for your work throughout the year, and for looking toward the future for Newport SLSC.

It was another amazing year of accomplishments for Newport SLSC. Each year seems to build on the one before and they seem to just keep getting better and better, and it has been an honour to be a part of that momentum.

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BILGOLA BEACH SLSC

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BILGOLA SLSC

Changing beach conditions created rips and gutters straight off the carpark, so for the inexperienced swimmer, a challenge. A number of these rescues were by Club members, including SRC’s and Cadets who performed admirably under pressure as well as local residents. The issue has been raised with Branch and Council.

Pete Fenley, our Patrol Captain, did a sterling job running patrols, supported by our IRB team of Nige Penn (IRB Captain) and Piet Poelmann and Bill Hawkins (IRB Vice Captains).

Our Patrol Captains, as always, are active, engaged and participate, ensuring our beach is safe for the public. We continue to increase our patrolling members. Over winter, along with Palmy and Avalon SLSC we are making a concerted effort to identify women (and men) to train as Patrol Captains and VC’s with the aim of lifting the participation rate of women. Acknowledgement of Steve Faddy for the hours he volunteers as a Branch Duty Officer, as well as Dennis O’Toole (Competition Secretary) and Norm Pounder (Boat Captain) as officials and Nigel Penn as IRB Captain.

The Blackmores Ocean Swim was fantastic - great conditions and excellent number of competitors, especially with the new 750m swim. The Bilgola Surf Boat Carnival was also a great success, up until one of our sweeps, Mark Fitzgerald (Fitzy), had a heart attack on the beach. As the heart surgeon at RNSH said: “He was at the best place to have it with doctors, paramedics and more than 100 lifesavers around.’’ Mark recovered well.

The Bilgola boat crews continued to excel with eight crews racing over the season. Our open women’s crew won the State Championship. Bilgola also created history as the inaugural winners of both the Under 19 women’s and reserve grade women’s surfboat races at ASRL Open – the first time both these events have been held. Natalie Gartner and Norm Pounder were inducted into the Australian Surf Rowers League Hall of Fame.

Nippers could not be run without the support of many members and parents. David Brown was once again Junior President and oversaw another successful Nipper season, especially with the SRC’s and Cadets.

The BBQ was manned once again by John Brogden (Patron), David Madew and Rob Goodyear. Rachel Brown (committee member), Pauline Couzens and Lou Edgely all have to be mentioned for the hours of support they also provided Nippers.

Josh Axford was persistent with the SRC’s, training them to pass, ensuring they participated as water safety for Nippers and were active on patrols. Acknowledgement also to Belle Schmidt, Rob Farr and Pete Fenley, as well as to Ricky Rogers who was the Nipper Patrol Captain. Acknowledgement also to Nipper competition coaches Steve Couzens and Rob Chant (committee member).

Club members were involved in a number of community events, including Blackmores Community Day, Blackmores ‘Lunch and Learn’, Avalon Bilgola Swim Club, True Grit Enduro Event and our Cadets patrolled at Wet ‘n Wild.

Training was ramped up over the season, thanks to Peter Fenley and Belle Poelmann, Training Officers, with support from Rowan Jacob (committee member) and Caitlyn Lowe.

Thanks also to our many sponsors and supporters; Blackmores as our major sponsor and the support of Marcus and Caroline Blackmore, Bullock, Bluestone Homes (member Neil Jones), Dependable Butchers, Amber Waves, Adrenalin (member Josh Axford), Talk AV (member Simon Walsh), James Chant, Harris Farm Markets, Pittwater Council, Wetton Signage Group and Terry Wetton, Barrenjoey Signs, Royal Motor Yacht Club, Back to Health Physio, CABE and URM.

I would also like to acknowledge the support of our local politicians, some of whom are retiring.The Hon Bronwyn Bishop, former Pittwater Mayor Jacqueline Townsend and Councillors Bob Grace and Julie Hegarty, along with local member Rob Stokes.They have actively supported our Club.

Once again the Club is in a good position due to our Life Members, committee and members.

Romilly Madew

Whilst Bilgola SLSC had a fantastic 2015-16 season with no major incidents, active and engaged members, good results by our competitors, great conditions for both the Blackmores Bilgola Ocean Swim and boat carnival, what we did experience was a spike in after hours rescues.

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The Club has gone from strength to strength. With no lives lost and 80 rescues, 100 first aid treatments, 450 preventative measures throughout the 2015-16 season, we achieved our primary goal of keeping our beach safe. Congratulations and thank you to all of our patrolling members.

AVALON BEACH SLSC

Our community events were strongly subscribed, commencing with the Lion Island Challenge in October. The Carols by the Sea was attended by thousands of local residents and has become a landmark event on the Avalon Beach calendar. The community spirit shone through with great food, fireworks and singing from the Rock N Soul choir. The Avalon Beach Surf Swim also ran smoothly in good conditions again this year.

This year Avalon Beach hosted a carnival for the first time since 1998, running the Branch Masters and Nipper carnivals at Palm Beach. Led by the ebullient Dave Roberts and Nick Sampson, and involving an incredible 142 Club volunteers, the event was a huge success.

Our Nippers thrived under the leadership of Pim Van Gestel, not only having tremendous fun every Sunday, but honing their skills in a plethora of waterproofing, board training, fitness and coaching sessions during the week. The results speak for themselves with best ever point scores at Branch and State carnivals.

Our youth program continued to increase in numbers with almost 100 junior members now involved. Just some of the highlights were: three full weekends of substitute patrols at Garie Beach including sleepovers at the Club, surf safaris, canyoning, SUP, movie nights, high ropes course, barista training, sleepovers at the Club, yoga, surf boat rowing, gym training, patrols at Wet n’ Wild, advanced driver training and mystery adventure challenges.

The youth program attempts to identify and remove obstacles and barriers which have traditionally prevented young members from continuing their membership. Membership fees were identified as one of these obstacles and, from next season, these fees will be waived for our 15 to 18 year olds. The loss of income to the Club is seen as a relatively small price to pay for potential lifelong retention.

Our surf sports teams also excelled: the Antiques surf boat team continued their run with a silver at Aussies and the U/23 Pinkies performing brilliantly with victories at Branch, at the interstate titles representing NSW and in the Trans-Tasman Cup, representing Australia. Our Masters shone with Chris McGuckin winning three state gold medals. Our IRB team showed improved racing in the NSW Premiership.

One of our Club’s strengths is the quality and extent of its training. Our trainers put 53 members through their Bronze medallion training and 42 through their SRC, with a total of 141 awards achieved throughout the season. Thank you once again to Louise Lindop for running the show and to all of our devoted Trainers for their many hours of hard work.

This year our Board of Management has completed the following:● A draft strategic plan● A new fundraising and events policy● A gym management agreement● New policies on active members providing water safety● Youth initiatives● A whole venue hire policy agreement with the restaurant● A profitable financial position● A new website● A constitution review● IT data storage and sharing review and implementation● Review and implementation of new insurance policies● Building upgrades, including cupboards to the meeting room, furniture to the club lounge, AV cupboard to the Bar, glass washer, new Nippers clothes cupboard, new board racks● Equipment upgrades including 4 new trailers and an IRB trailer● A new surf boat● Two new IRB motors● A commitment to purchase a new IRB● New boards forNippers and SRC’s● A new exterior door to the IRB Board store

It is pleasing to see that Avalon Beach is tracking well in most of the performance indicators of the Club Sustainability Indicator Report. The report has highlighted some areas where we could do better, and we will be focussing on these in the upcoming season. In particular, our patrol attendance rates could be higher. We have some exciting initiatives to implement in relation to the roster and patrols, which we hope will be embraced by our active members.

Thank you to all our committed sponsors and supporters who have provided assistance to us throughout the season, particularly LJ Hooker Avalon Beach, Col Crawford Hyundai and Avalon Beach RSL. Many thanks as well to all of the Branch sponsors. We couldn’t do without them.

Thank you very much to the Directors and staff at SLSSNB for all of their assistance, guidance and support throughout the season.

Richard Cole

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WHALE BEACH SLSC

The interaction between the Club and the community continues. Philip Schmidt

And, to top it off, eight of our members gained their Gold Medallion, surf life saving’s most prestigious award.

And congratulations to Charles Kellaway being named joint winner of Young Life Saver of the Year. What a fantastic achievement.

As most would know, Whale Beach is one of the most dangerous on the Northern Beaches. We performed numerous rescues during the season and there were major and minor incidents as well, but no lives were lost while our patrols were on duty.

Whale Beach members gained more awards than in any previous season. Included were IRB driver and crew, ARTC, Senior First Aid, Beach and Spinal Management. But the grand effort was when eight members gained their Gold Medallion. Congratulations to Jonathan Stubbs, Annika Harrison, Floyd Higgins, Charlie Kellaway, Lachie McEntyre, Angus Bownes, John Lewin and Lara Boyle. Legend Bill Phillips was our sole competitor at Aussies on the Sunshine Coast this year and he won two Gold medals in Masters competition. Bill took out the over 70 years surf race and rescue tube.

But next season, the Whale Beach cap will be seen at the Branch Championships. A group of our members has decided to train and compete in water and beach events.

We have also organised to celebrate “Women in Surf Lifesaving”. One of the first women to gain the Bronze Medallion was a member of Whale Beach – Kate Montgomery. Also two of our women earned the Gold lifesaving medal this past season. The gala event which we are organising for the end of the year will be attended by Kate.

The interaction between the Club and the community continues. The annual Neighbours night (AKA Pig Night) was attended by 240 members and our neighbours. Other community events included the Music Appreciation weekend, the Big and Little Big Swims and Christmas Rippers (Nippers).

The Rippers days are for children and grandchildren of members, as well as the immediate Whale Beach community. They are held over three days during the Christmas holiday period.

During the 2015 -2016 season, the Club was re-equipped with new boards, as well as skis and an IRB. We also procured new first aid equipment, furnished the members lounge area and introduced other

social activities to encourage members to become more of an integral part of the Club. The above could not have been possible without support of our management, sponsors and benefactors being: Macquarie Bank, The Boathouse Group, Streets Ice Cream, Lipton Tea, United Resource Management, Dee Why RSL, Palm Beach RSL, Bill Buckle Toyota, Westfield Warringah Mall and the Cancer Institute of NSW. We thank you all for your assistance.

We look forward to an even more rewarding season in 2016-2017.

The 2015-2016 season was certainly one of the most rewarding for many seasons at Whale Beach SLSC. Our lifesavers achieved numerous awards and one of the real highlights was winning Branch Rescue of the Month in October.

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PALM BEACH SLSC

As we all know in volunteer organisations, this does not happen without the hard work and passion of its members. We make it a point each season to ensure that our members enjoy their patrols whilst also respecting the role they have placed themselves into.

Whilst we are all volunteers, each and every active member has joined the Club for their own reasons, so must honour the commitment they have made by completing their roster without any absences or other patrol violations. We do find it increasingly difficult to hold our members accountable,as social media seems to continuously remind our young members of what they are missing out on back in “the city”, but we are happy with the management of this relatively new threat thus far.

In 2013-14, I reported that it was possibly the most successful year in the Club’s history. In 2014-15, we took it to another level, and I am so proud to say that we have managed to peak again in 2015-16.

Our boaties brought home two Gold and two Silver medals from Nationals on the Sunshine Coast this year, with Peter Spence sweeping all crews who medalled. We had two significant injuries to sweeps throughout the season, so Spency and Nick Wiadrowski stepped up to help out.

Our Masters continue to signify the strength and passion amongst our external competitors. The team have become very close and especially enjoy hosting the Twilight Masters competition every year at Palm Beach.

Palmy’s beach and water team might be small, but they’re dedicated and driven and growing. This year, one of our probationary members, Quentin Reeve, made a splash in the 2km beach run event at Branch (Gold), State (Gold) and Nationals (Silver). Palmy is traditionally a ‘Boatie Club’ but our competition team all rallied together this year, and all disciplines saw improved results.

For the first time in more than a decade, Palmy spent a summer without a major sponsor. Luckily, we managed to fill the hole in the budget with a fundraising event held in July, 2015 in the city – the Sir Adrian Curlewis Dinner. We still continue a mutually beneficial relationship with LJ Hooker Palm Beach, as our second tier partner. David Edwards has been a huge part of the Palmy community over many years, and he and his team seem to enjoy being a part of our family.

Palmy continues to put a large number of candidates through several awards throughout the seasons. We are always encouraging members to attain their Drivers Certificates as well as BBM, and any course that will bring them into leadership roles on the beach.

Assessing and Officiating has also been an area of focus to ensure that we can continue to examine close to home, and provide adequate officials for carnivals. We are proud of our training personnel and program at Palmy and believe that we are in a good position to continue training interested young lifesavers for many, many years to come.

Parties and Palmy go hand in hand. We are very lucky to have an extremely supportive community but, once again, this support and passion does not come easily.

We always ensure that we host the best parties, so that our attendees come back for more the following year. It is important to keep things fresh, as well as maintain the traditional element for the members who like to start their stories with “back in my day…”. I seem to hear these words come out of my mouth all too often.

I am stepping down as Club President of Palmy. I have enjoyed my time in the chair immensely, but just like our parties, you need to keep things fresh, and I believe it is in the best interest of the Club to hand over the baton before the passion and new ideas start to fade.

Our boaties brought home two Gold and two Silver medals from Nationals on the Sunshine Coast this year.

Kate MacDonald

“No lives lost” is all you want to hear at the end of a Surf Lifesaving season, and luckily these words reigned true for another summer at Palm Beach.

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NORTH PALM BEACH SLSC

And, finally, I would like to thank the Branch office and staff for their assistance throughout the season.

Graham Howard

Despite the continuing renovations and construction work on the building, limiting access to the Clubhouse, all the members maintained the high standard of patrols expected by the community coming to the northern end of Palm Beach and Barrenjoey.

While conditions were generally mild throughout the season, we experienced short periods of dangerous ocean and beach conditions.

Our patrols are responsible for covering approximately 2km of Palm Beach and last season, as in all seasons, our patrols conducted a number of rescues well outside the flagged area. Our roving patrols did a magnificent job and are to be applauded.

One of our patrols was awarded the Branch Rescue of the Month for January 2016 for a mass rescue. The conditions had been particularly hazardous throughout the day and the mass rescue was conducted in the last hour of the patrol.

Our patrols are very professional when it comes to managing the beach and their focus on preventive actions and managing how the public use the ocean means we do not have to perform as many rescues as may otherwise be the case.

With thanks to our Club patron, Jeff Conen, who has supervised all aspects of the renovations, the members look forward to the official opening of the Clubhouse in the 2016-17 season. This has been a major project over several years with much of the work being carried out by members of the Club.

The extension to the boat shed will make it easier for us to store and have access to all the patrol rescue equipment, as well as the jet ski’s, IRB and ATV’s. The new member’s area and the upstairs Clubroom have been worth the wait and the view from the balcony is sensational.

Community Support Initiatives in 2015-2016

● Use of Club facilities by Council Lifeguards● Use of Club facilities by SNB Branch RWC (21 beaches) training and proficiencies● Training SRC and Bronze candidates● Training ART and First Aid● Training IRBC and Driver● Palm Beach Market Day, BBQ funds going towards Outback meets the beach program

Provided use of the Club facilities for Circuitry Soft Sand RunDunes Regeneration, every third Saturday of the month

I would like to acknowledge the Powercraft Panel throughout the season, with the improvement of standards of Training and Proficiencies of operators across the Clubs within the Branch. Thanks to all of our trainers for all the work each season.

In closing, I would also like to acknowledge the support of our Sponsors and Patrons, and Sydney Northern Beaches Branch sponsors being: Streets Ice Cream, Lipton Ice Tea, Dee Why RSL Club, United Resource Management (URM) Bill Buckle Auto Group, Westfield Warringah Mall, Cancer Institute NSW, RFi Group and SLSNSW.

The 2015-16 season was another successful one for North Palm Beach SLSC and our patrols are to be commended for their vigilance.

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