Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Nearly 400 volunteer lifesavers from the 15 clubs across the Central Coast got together recently to celebrate another successful season at the Surf Life Saving Central Coast Awards of Excellence night. This season saw 513 lives saved, 17,970 preventive actions and 1,775 first aid cases, all by local volunteer surf lifesavers, over 96,300 patrol hours, so there was plenty to celebrate. With more than 8,000 volunteer members, our surf clubs do a fantastic job in helping to keep our beaches safe. I'd like to thank every member of a local surf lifesaving club for volunteering their time for the benefit of our community.

I'd like to acknowledge some particularly exceptional volunteers from my electorate of Robertson. Open Athlete of the Year and Young Athlete of the Year was Jemma Smith from Umina Surf Life Saving Club. Dave Thompson from Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club won Official of the Year. Assessor of the Year was Ashley Capps from Copacabana Surf Life Saving Club, and Facilitator of the Year was Ramzy Fawzy from Wamberal Surf Life Saving Club. Oscar Crowe from MacMasters Beach Surf Life Saving Club was awarded a Newcastle Permanent Junior Lifesaver of the Year award. Rookie of the Year went to Zara Smithers from Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and Matt Calbert from Ocean Beach Surf Lifesaving Club won Young Lifesaver of the Year. North Avoca Surf Life Saving Club took out two major awards at the ceremony: Matt Slattery, the club president, won the prestigious title of Lifesaver of the Year, and Darren Hutton was named Patrol Captain of the Year. Both Matt and Dean were acknowledged for their outstanding commitment to their club and their community.

My own club, Terrigal Surf Life Saving Club, won a number of awards, and I was really proud to see the club named Overall Surf Sports Pointscore winners. Paul Lemmon won Masters Athlete of the Year, Tim Pittolo was awarded Trainer of the Year and the outstanding Cathy Cole was named Volunteer of the Year for her wonderful presentation about our female surf lifesavers during World War II.

Umina Surf Life Saving Club had an incredibly successful season and was recognised for this on the night, taking out the top honour of Club of the Year. MacMasters Beach Surf Life Saving Club and Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club won second and third, respectively, which was an outstanding achievement. To everyone at Umina: congratulations. To President Bill Cook and the whole team, thank you for all you do for our community. Club of the Year wasn't the only award Umina took home. Jarryd Edmonds was named rescue craft operator of the year, Trevor Gee was named Coach of the Year and the club won Team of the Year with the under-19 female surf team—congratulations to Jemma Smith, Mollie Murphy, Jasmine Darwin, Jazmyn Rodwell, Rachel Wood and Mimosa Henderson. The president of Surf Life Saving Central Coast, Stuart Harvey, has told me that the awards night culminates the season for its 15 surf lifesaving clubs and it's a chance to recognise all volunteer members. I place on record my thanks to the surf lifesaving movement, Chris Parker, Stuart Harvey and each and every member of the local surf clubs. (Time expired)

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