The Entrance Surf Club needs new patrol members
IT’S one of the most popular beaches, attracting large local and holiday crowds every year but it can be one of the most dangerous. That’s why The Entrance Surf Club desperately needs more volunteers to help patrol.
Central Coast
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THE Entrance Surf Club is putting an urgent call out for more active patrol members, as numbers continue to dwindle.
The club is down to just 30 active patrol members, with bronze medallion qualifications, keeping The Entrance beach and channel safe, just one member more than last season.
The Entrance Surf Club president Glenn Clarke said the club had the smallest number of active patrol members on the Central Coast.
“We are struggling with only four patrols,” he said.
“So if you are on this Saturday you are also on Saturday week. We don’t want that, we need more bods on the beach. We also have a few older guys that are planning to hang their hats up at the end of this season.
“We are really keen to get fit, active members. You have to be over the age of 15 to do your bronze medallion.”
Mr Clarke said The Entrance beach was looking the best it has in years.
“In the past we’ve had bad luck with rocks exposed on the beach,” he said.
“We had a few seasons where the beach was closed 75 per cent of the time. That lost us a few members.
“But since then we’ve been lucky. The groyne wall has been built and council has removed sand from The Entrance channel and on to the beach.”
He said The Entrance was a family oriented club which offered plenty of training and support to its members. The bronze medallion is a rewarding course which teaches basic first aid as well as beach safety.
“Lifesaving is a great past time because you can be as little or as involved as you like,” Mr Clarke said.
“We offer everything here, we can train people to do Surf Rescue Certificate (SRC), bronze medallion, right through to Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) crew and drivers courses. We’ve also got a competitive boat crew called The Sandy Cracks.”
Last year patrolling members at The Entrance did 4075 hours, with the top patroller Rick Cowan who clocked up 310.5 hours. The top female patroller was 18-year-old Josie Gates who did 228.3 hours.
“For those guys to be giving up their time to make sure The Entrance community is safe is just brilliant,” Mr Clarke said.
“At the end of the day, the more people that become patrol members, the less we have to do.
“I understand numbers have dropped off for most clubs on the Coast, but not as dramatically as what has happened to us.”
He thanked fellow Central Coast clubs who had offered to assist.
“It’s fantastic that other clubs are coming over to help but really we need our own members,” he said.
Anyone interested in becoming an active patrol member at The Entrance can contact Mr Clarke on 0407 335 172.