By TANIA PHILLIPS
CUDGEN Headland Surf Club held its annual sponsors lunch last week at the club to say thankyou to supporters and sponsors who help the surf club throughout the year.
It was the last official function on the 2012-’13 season and was a chance for community and club members to come together and discuss the year which club president Adam Mills said had been one of change off the beach and of success on it.
“After overcoming the challenges of hosting the NSW Surf Life Saving Championships for two years under difficult conditions, the club has settled down to business as usual with a renewed focus on developing the marine aquatic rescue skills of our active members to ensure that we are in a position to maintain our patrolling obligations,” he said.
“The membership is slowly embracing our newly adopted “one club management structure” changing from the old traditional model to a more business-like model that will serve the club well into the future.
“This season we welcomed a number of fresh faces onto the executive board and sub-committee positions. With their appointment comes new ideas and renewed enthusiasm which has contributed greatly to the growth of the club.”
He said the recovery of the beach this season from the erosion cell and the installation of an access ramp to the beach on the southern end of the club provided the club with an opportunity to re-establish our primary patrolling area to the front of the club for the first time in two seasons.
“The members have expressed their gratitude to the Tweed Shire Council for funding the construction of the ramp, which allows us to quickly mobilise our aquatic rescue craft, provides safe access for our members and the general public when visiting the beach and has the benefit of enabling emergency rescue vehicles to readily access the beach when required,” Adam said.
“This season the Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) section, commenced a campaign called ‘Operation Rescue the IRBs’ aimed at replacing our aging IRBs and motors.
“We successfully auctioned off two of our older ducks and motors with the proceeds going towards the purchase of two new fully-equipped IRBs and 25hp Mercury motors. We are hoping to secure sponsorship during the off-season to allow us to start next season with the new equipment fully run-in and ready for operation.
“The club was fortunate in obtaining a grant through the NSW Surf Club facilities development program to assist with the refurbishment of the existing first aid room including the installation of a fire-rated ceiling system, replacement of floor coverings, installation of built-in storage cupboards and upgrade of electrical services.
“The club is grateful to the NSW State Government, SLNSW and our local member, MP Geoff Provest, for their continued support.”
He said Cudgen Headland had also enjoyed one of their best seasons ever in competition.
“Riding on the back of the success of the past two seasons the club exceeded all expectations by finishing 20th out of 199 clubs at the 2013 Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships held on North Kirra Beach,” Adam said.
“The season started off with some fantastic results at the world titles held in Glenelg, SA which saw us come home with three gold, two silver and a bronze medal in the masters and what I believe is our first senior silver medal in the men’s board rescue.
“We were well represented in the SLSNSW country team which competed in the tri series hosted by SLS Northern Region in NZ. Harry Klouzal was the team manager and Jarred Cain, Scott McCartney and Elli Lever were all selected as competitors.
“Our juniors again showed why we are considered to be one of the best competitive country clubs in the state by winning the NSW country titles point score and the seniors put in a huge effort to come in second place on the leader board behind long-time rivals Byron Bay.”
Adam said the success was down to the hard work of the parents and supporters who assist to organise events, the competitors and club members including Phil Klein, Darren Jones, Scott McCartney and Jarred Cain who put their time into getting the kids to a competitive standard.
“The club will continue to support our teams next season as they face a lot of travelling with the country championships in Mollymook, State in Umina, Aussie titles in Perth and Worlds in France before returning back to North Kirra in 2015,” he said.
“Thankyou to our major sponsors: Dial before you Dig, Command Building Services, Tweed Shire Council, Summerland Credit Union, QSM Sports, Kingscliff Bowls Club, Imperial Hotel, J.H. Williams, Southern Cross University, Kingscliff Lions Club, Kingscliff Rotary Club, Kozii Swimwear, Excel Surfcraft and all of our many sponsors for their valuable support throughout this season. Your assistance allows our surf club to patrol our beach and keep the members of our community safe.”
