Southport SLSC reflects on 50 years of sun, sand and hamburgers from the pavillion
HALF a century ago Nippers ran up and down the sand at Main Beach during the patrol season for the first time. .
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HALF a century ago Nippers ran up and down the sand at Main Beach during the patrol season for the first time.
During the long days in the sun, the junior lifesavers formed a connection to the Southport Surf Lifesaving Club that members say is hard to shake.
Now, 50 years on, about 320 boys and girls aged five to 12 and including Ruby and Ted Barrett, Freya Brown and Brooke Malcolm are enrolled in the club and show up every weekend for their turn to run on the sand.
Lifesaving at the club has changed a lot in two generations, according to Main Beach local Darryl Hurley, one the first Nippers to sign up in 1966.
The 60-year-old firefighter joined after both his father and grandfather had been volunteers at the club.
At a time when there was only a handful of highrises on the Surfers Paradise skyline, Mr Hurley remembers beach sprints in the sun and regimented marchpast parades.
He even remembers a carnival at Kingscliff in 1967 when the news broke of Prime Minister Harold Holt famously disappearing during a swim at a Victorian beach.
In all those years, Mr Hurley said the taste of a hamburger from the Main Beach Pavilion after a day in the surf still could not be beaten – and was reason enough to become involved with the movement.
“The hamburgers have always been good there, for some reason,” Mr Hurley recalls. “I don’t know what it is but I’ll always remember going there with my folks – and they’re still great.”
The national Nippers program was established in the 1960s to combat falling volunteer rates.
“My grandfather was a member of the Southport Surf Life Saving Club and so was my dad, so I was a Nipper in the first years,” Mr Hurley said.
“I actually had my photo in the Bulletin back in the day.”
Records at the club uncovered by stalwart Kevin McCurley show the junior program started with a donation of $200 from the Southport Lions Club.
The donation was generous for its time and the funds were used to buy a half-sized surf rescue reel and a club flag for the marchpast event.
The reel is still used today.
In 1967, the first interclub Nipper competition in Queen-sland was held between Southport, Surfers Paradise, North-cliffe and Palm Beach clubs.
The carnival raised a total of $20.70 for the movement.
In September 1971, approval was given for the construction of a dedicated Nipper clubhouse.
It was about this time in the early ’70s when Mr Hurley said “music changed and hair grew longer” and he turned to surfing.
“I remember I was one of the first,” he said.
“I did it for a few years but I changed from being a clubbie to a surfer.”
While he drifted away from the official patrols at the club, Mr Hurley said he returned to Southport when he had his own children. Even his daughter was allowed to take part after the program finally admitted girls to full membership in the 1980s.
Mr Hurley even got back into surf lifesaving competition and recognised a few former rivals.
“I got back into competing in Masters events about 11 years ago,” he said.
“I actually remember some of the guys competing for Northcliffe from when I was a young bloke. Both my son and daughter did their bronze medallions through the surf club.”
Southport SLSC Nippers president Shane Roberts said Mr Hurley’s family had followed a pattern similar to that of other families at the club over the years.
“The kids that don’t train competitively tend to drop down but then we see them come back to the club when they have children,” Mr Roberts said.
Next Saturday Southport SLSC will host a reunion of past and present members.
For past members who would like to be involved, the club encourages them to call 56 653 939.