Celebrating the successes of the past year, the evening was attended by some of our most valued members and patrons, including Vice Patron and Leader of the Opposition, Mia Davies, as well as the president of our national organisation, Mitchell Hartman. 

As part of the evening, we celebrated the service of retiring board member David Cummins, who has been a member of the Royal Life Saving WA board for the past 15 years. David has over 40 years’ involvement in the aquatics industry and was made a Life Member of Royal Life Saving WA in 2018.

We also welcomed new board member Donna Oxenham, a Yamatji woman and a descendant of the Malgana people of Shark Bay in the north-west of Western Australia. Donna is a researcher at the University of Western Australia and has considerable experience undertaking research on Indigenous children, families and communities. 

Donna has already provided her expertise to Royal Life Saving in the development of our Reconciliation Action Plan as a valued member of our Aboriginal Steering committee. Donna also compiled an Aboriginal history of the area where our head office is located, where she researched the Whadjuk Nyungar relationships to country surrounding the Mount Claremont region. 

We welcome Donna to the board and look forward to receiving her insight and input into our future programs and services across the organisation.

Existing board members Justine Leavy and Aaron Brinkworth were re-appointed to the board for a further two-year term. These members share a range of experience in the aquatic, public health and corporate sectors which is invaluable to the organisation as we continue our work across Western Australia and strategically plan for the future.

The night was also an opportunity to share the success stories of our 2021-22 Annual Report, which can be downloaded at the link below.