Community trainers awarded for their lifesaving work

Last week Royal Life Saving Society WA held a function for Community Trainers and Sub-Contractors who’ve delivered hundreds of courses across WA throughout 2016.

The River Room in Nedlands was selected as the venue for this wonderful evening, not just because of the lovely location but because The Swan River is the number four black spot in Australia for Drowning.

Royal Life Saving Society WA is working towards reducing this figure by running a number of community programs aimed at educating individuals and community groups to give them the skills and knowledge to be safe around such an iconic waterway in Western Australia.

Swim and Survive on the Swan, which is one particular program delivered on the River, teaches kids to swim and survive in environment different to the local pool. Sam Bell, the program coordinator spoke about this new program at the awards evening, promoting it to those attending with the aim of getting more facilitators on board.

With the assistance of Life Member Tom Ballantyne, Community Education Manager Jonnine Rowe then commenced the award presentations with two individuals, Christina Self and Kylie Angelheart receiving a Certificate of Thanks for their work in delivering courses over the past year. 

After a short break, which included lovely sunset view and delicious food, Jonnine and Tom presented the remaining awards for the night. Graham Regan was first up and received the WA Service Order, after first obtaining his Resuscitation qualification in 2000, over the last five years has been delivering First Aid Training to the Teachers and Students at Lynwood Senior High School.

Three WA Long Service Order Awards were then presented. The first to Virginia Lanza, who was recognised for her dedication to Royal Life Saving Society WA over 10 years. Her first award with RLSSWA was her Resuscitation qualification in 2001 and she then went on to become a qualified Swimming Instructor and Aquatic Trainer.

Les Dodd was recognised with the WA Long Service Order for his ongoing contribution to Royal Life Saving Society WA. This year alone he has run more than 60 courses. Les also volunteers his time to run bronze medallion courses for his staff at Rockingham.

Lastly we recognised Sue Knight for her ongoing service to the organisation. Sue received the WA Service Order for her ongoing contribution to Royal Life Saving Society WA. Sue runs the Bronze Medallion courses for VacSwim across the Perth Metropolitan area and at Melville Aquatic Centre.

Sue obtained her qualifications from Royal Life Saving Society WA in 2002 and has been educating members of the community in water safety and first aid ever since.

It was a lovely night that everyone enjoyed. We hope that all of our members have an amazing Christmas and New Year with the emphasis on ensuring we all Keep Watch around water.