Dear members
Usually our summer period is filled with activities and social events which bring with them, a strong sense of community. This year, things are very different.
That being said, there have been lots of things happening and while things look different, a lot of volunteers have done some great work to ensure some of our programs can go ahead (including patrols, nippers, new clubhouse planning and strategic planning).
I wanted to write to you today to provide you with an update on what is happening this season and thank you for your ongoing commitment to our club. Excuse the long email but I wanted it to be as comprehensive and informative as possible.
While we have explored options to get some of the enjoyable features of our summer program to go ahead, due to a number of factors (including COVID-19 and not having a clubhouse) the decision has been made to go back-to-basics this season. We are focusing on our purpose as a club: to keep the community safe on our beaches.
Speaking of our new clubhouse: What do you think?
I think it looks incredible! Having had a chance to walk through the building, it is clear that a lot of thought has gone into how the building will operate. It is going to be so great for our club.
Though this season we are entering a sort of hibernation, next year we are going to be stronger,
I would love to know your thoughts, send me an email.
Some more photos of the building can be seen here.
Beach conditions
We all know Point Lonsdale Back Beach is one of the most dangerous beaches in Victoria. Part of our identity as a club is that we are courageous and tough when it comes to patrolling this beach. That being said, it is always important for us as a club to respect the volatile nature of the back beach.
The Club Captain reports that beach conditions this season are particularly rough. Between Christmas and New Years, volunteer lifesavers and LSV lifeguards (many of whom are club members) performed over 10 rescues.
Our LSV/LERT RWC Service have also attended to a number incidents involving crafts off Queenscliff and Portarlington.
It is also important for us to all consider whether we are swim-fit after a year of lockdown. When you’re about to enter the water, stop and ask yourself what your limitations are this season.
This all goes to show the importance of what we do as a club. Although there may not be many social events this year, it is important for you to know that as volunteers of our club, your contribution is so appreciated and vital to keeping the community safe on our beaches.
Nippers
I am so pleased that despite the current circumstances, our Nippers program has proceeded as close to normal as possible. We were very focused on ensuring that after a year of being stuck inside, we could put activities on for our younger members and allow them to have some fun over their summer holidays. We have approximately 300 participants, down from approximately 350 last year which is a great result!
Caroline Cotton, Lisa Moore, Simon Dale and Emilie Fary have done a great job of getting the nippers program over the line. They have been supported by Charlie Gough and Emily Manly and a team of wonderful instructors and water safety who have put their hands up, even though many of them missed out on doing Bronze and SRC this year due to COVID. Thank you for your contribution to our club!
It is also important to acknowledge our COVIDSafe Officers, Janet Ashton and Matthew Ponsford who have done a mountain of work to keep everyone safe. You will notice if you attend any of our facilities there are QR Codes, hand sanitizer and a number of other provisions to reduce the chance of transmission of the virus.
Please don’t forget to pass on your thanks and appreciation to all our volunteers - I would love you to share any messages of thanks with the team. Feel free to send it to me to pass on.
Bronze and SRC
Disappointingly, we weren’t able to run a Bronze and SRC program this year for a variety of reasons, including:
We had over 100 applicants for the two camps but had strict capacity limits due to COVID-19;
We do not have a clubhouse and would have been running the program out of a marquee in Ganes Reserve. This had further implications on maintaining a COVIDSafe environment which would, in turn have the effect of further reducing the number of participants;
Some clubs did run bronze camps but they were very limited in terms of how they ran and they did not align with what we aim to achieve in our camps;
We did not have the volunteer capacity to manage running programs in the limited format other clubs did (across a number of different facilities with strict cleaning and social distancing processes).
Next year, we will be offering a much larger Bronze and SRC camp and have guaranteed spots for all applicants who missed out this year. We will be leaning heavily on Bronze and SRC parents over the year to help us pull this off. Having parents on board to run camps is essential. Please feel free to get in contact to find out how you can help, otherwise our camp team will be reaching out over the coming months.
New merch
It’s been awesome to see people around town wearing our new merchandise - I think it looks great! You can find the selection on our online shop!
I ordered a cap, a water bottle and a keep cup and it delivered to my place in Lonnie 2 days later!
Thank you to Helen Slattery for her work putting our new merchandise selection together. Thank you as well to Lorraine Robinson for helping to sell the stock at our nippers registration day.
We would love any feedback or suggestions for new items, let me know!
Strategic Plan
Over the past 12 months, the club has undertaken a process of putting together a new strategic plan. It has involved a member survey (in January 2020), a committee strategic planning session and a working group consisting of Bunny Carrigan, Michael Doery, Jane D’Oliveyra, Charlotte Furness and Andrew Pitney who have met with key stakeholders to identify our strategic priorities.
It is important that new strategic plan (which will take us up to 2026) will be well thought out because it is going to be key to our success once we have our new clubhouse. It focusses on how we can better improve our life saving capabilities, programs, commercial offering (food and beverage) as well as our engagement with members and the local community.
In the coming weeks, we are going to finalise a draft of the new strategic plan for member consultation. Please keep an eye out for it, it is important that we get member buy-in with this, a well aligned club will be key to our success!
So, what do the next 12 months have in store for us?
This season, we have taken a bit of a hit to our membership, we currently have 900 members, down from 1300 last season. This was somewhat anticipated in light of COVID and a second year without a clubhouse.
In addition to this, we have had to cancel our two largest fundraisers, the Rip View Swim Classic and the Nipper Doorknock. Obviously the club will take a financial hit from this, but I am not going to ask for money.
What I would love you to do now is think about this:
In 2021, we will be re-launching Point Lonsdale SLSC - what can I do to be part of this exciting new era in our history?
Have a think about:
can I do my Bronze (or requal a lapsed Bronze)? - even if it’s just to patrol one day a year…
can I join a committee or sub-committee and provide some of my professional expertise?
can I step up and become a parent helper at Nippers?
is there something the club does that could be better, and if so, how can I help improve it?
can I help to make the Rip View Swim a bigger and better event?
can I start a new initiative that will improve experiences of members or people in the broader community?
can my workplace become a potential sponsor of the club? Or do I know someone I can put the club in contact with to sponsor?
You don’t need to come up with an answer straight away but know this - next year we are going to have an amazing facility, we want our club to be a hive of activity all year round and become a central part of the Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff community. How do you want to be involved?
You may have seen an article on the front page of the Bellarine Times about Kirsten MacLeod and I taking Senator Sarah Henderson of a tour of the new clubhouse. In the article, I talk about our plan for opening the new facility. There has been a subcommittee led by Andrew Gourlay, Bec McHenry and John Hurley focused on how the new building will operate. It is going to be so exciting to see it all come into action.
I also talk about encouraging local families to become involved and take on leadership roles in the club. We have previously been considered a summer club, but we want to do more than that. We want to be inclusive, we want to be vibrant and we want the facility to be used for all sorts of programs by other community groups. I can’t wait for this to happen and it would be great for you to get on board!
Wrapping up
While it’s been a different season, that hasn’t stopped lots of things from happening. Thank you to all of you for your support of our club - despite what has been a challenging few month, it is so great that there is such good-will around the club that people are willing to help out.
It goes without saying that our amazing office staff, Ronnie and Caroline have provided such great support to our committee. They have dealt with challenging circumstances, a new office and ever-evolving plans. They have taken all of these difficulties in their stride. Ronnie was actually featured in a blog with all the life saving club admins this week in recognition of her great work.
I hope you continue to enjoy your summer break and stay safe.
As always, don’t hesitate to get in contact if any questions or issues you may have.
Kind regards
Charlie