Surf club awarded $400,000 for indoor training facility
Ocean Beach Life Saving Club has been awarded $398,663 from the State Government's Surf Club Facilities Program to create an enclosed education and training space for volunteers.
Member for Gosford Ms Liesl Tesch said: "Our local surf life saving volunteers are the unsung heroes of our community, protecting locals and visitors in the water.
"This grant will contribute towards the development of a modern facility that enables surf life savers to better protect the community and continue to deliver a world-class service."
Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Mr Dean Slattery: "This project is a need that has been identified for many years.
"In poor weather, we can't accommodate our 150 Nippers in the club house, meaning that we have to close the beach completely for training.
"The project has the potential for generational change at the club, allowing us to fundamentally change the way that we operate.
"As the club faces due south, in the past, in inclement weather, we would have to close the club and beach, significantly reducing our capacity to provide training programs to our volunteers and community.
"By providing an all-weather environment, we will have the ability to revise our operations to suit the capacity that this allows us, continuing training in poor weather.
"This will mean that community training programs such as Nippers, CPR Awareness and Heart Start can continue no matter the conditions."
SOURCE:
Media release, 14 May 2024
Joely Langmaid, Office of the Member for Gosford