Exciting News: Santa is Bringing Joy to South Maroubra Beach! 
 Santa Photo Sessions​

The Santa Photo Sessions on the 3rd of December are officially BOOKED OUT! But don't worry, the holiday magic doesn't stop there.

We're welcoming walk-ins all day long, so come join us for spontaneous Santa joy at South Maroubra Beach! If you're feeling extra organised and want to secure your spot, shoot us an email at [email protected] with your preferred time, and we'll work our holiday magic to slot you in!

 
Special Dog Santa Photo Sessions

•  Dates: 2nd December
•  Time: 1 pm - 3 pm
•  Location: Grass near the South Maroubra clubhouse

 Don't forget to bring your furry friends for a festive photo with Santa!  Book your spot in advance here: https://calendly.com/irb_fundraising/santa-photos-south-maroubra-beach Walk-ins are also welcome, so feel free to join in the fun!
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 For all inquiries, contact us at [email protected]. We can't wait to capture the holiday magic with you and your loved ones, both two-legged and four-legged! 

What’s your full name? Marcelo Garay
What is your nickname? MG - From my work email, as I use my initial to sign off
What’s your current position in the club? Director of Finance
How long have you been in the role ?  It's my second term (2 year term)
When did you first join? October 2012
Can you tell us about your lifesaving journey? My wife and I joined South Maroubra in 2012, our kids went to a Catholic school in Mascot and the club was highly recommended by a large number of families, so we joined in, best decision ever made. Growing in a non-lifesaving country/culture (Chile) I was never exposed to the SLSA movement, once I joined the club I knew we were in the right place, somewhere I could make a difference and provide to the community. My eldest started in U8s and second eldest in U6s, the other 2 followed once they were at age to join in. My wife and I helped as beach crew, and when one of my kids' Age Manager resigned, I was asked to look after her group, becoming their Age Manager. When I achieved my Bronze, I was asked if I'd like to be the Nipper Director, becoming the Nipper Director and managing the section for 5 years, establishing the foundations for the great section we have now. I have been a Technical Official for 10+ years, now completing my Level 2 Officials, which will allow me to be a Carnival Referee or manage other senior roles at carnivals. From a lifesaving perspective, I did water safety when I was the nipper director, and then became an active patrol member in the old nipper patrol (P14). I continue patrolling with my whole family (6 of us) in Patrol 14 and my second eldest daughter is our Patrol Captain.
What positions have you held in the club? Director of Nippers - 5 Years, Club Secretary - 3 Years and Director of Finance (current)
Any highlights? When I became the Nipper Director, I saw an opportunity to further the program and the club, and to make a difference. I ensured the program was available to all, regardless of your background or abilities, everyone is welcome. To this day, the program maintains that view. During my tenure, I worked with ABC Me and a production company to deliver the Nipper Show (Nippers) - a 12 episode series, this show helped our club to be well known Australia wide and Overseas. We had a large number of our nippers becoming popular TV stars. The series are still available online here: https://www.tvcatchupaustralia.com/nippers
What does the future hold and any advice to fellow members? My advice to fellow members is to get involved and keep building your skills! ​Continue working with my fellow Board members and club members to develop our club even further, continue creating the family environment we proudly have and being part of this great club. My advise to fellow members is not to be afraid in being part of this great organisation and the SLSA movement, any little help you provide goes towards making our club and the movement great. It's a great feeling to be able to give back to the community.

As per our Regulations:

8.4 Honour Blazer
a. The honour blazer colour shall be dark navy, embroidered with emblem as per regulation 8.3 (c) with the addition of the word HONOUR in block letters underneath.
b. The honour blazer is awarded for outstanding service and can only be awarded to a member on one occasion. However, it is not necessary that an Honour Blazer be awarded each year.
c. All nominations for the honour blazer must be first made to the Board in writing stating the reason for the nomination and the nominees service to the Club. The nomination must be in the hands of the Secretary prior to the final April meeting. The Board shall consider the nominations at the final April meeting and for that nomination to obtain their recommendation for approval by the members of the Annual General Meeting.
d. The honour blazer may be awarded for bravery regardless of membership category and the minimum of 10 years membership may be waivered. Otherwise, the honour blazer can only be awarded to Active (18 years & over), Reserve Active, Long Service, Life Member, Active (15-18 years), Cadet (13-15 years) and only to other membership classifications who have had at least ten (10) years membership of the Club.
e. Only one (1) nomination each year for honour blazer may be recommended by the Board of Management to the Annual General Meeting, except where the nomination is with regard to bravery in which case more than one nomination can be recommended. 
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As per our Constitution:

8.6 Life Membership
8.6.1 Life Membership may be conferred at the Annual General Meeting by two thirds (2/3) majority of the members present and entitled to vote by secret ballot, provided that the member in question has either: a. performed an exceptional act of bravery in saving or attempting to save a life; or b. has made a long-term major contribution to the Cub involving a minimum of 15 years of outstanding continuous and sustained service.
8.6.2 All nominations for Life Membership must be submitted to the Club Secretary on the prescribed form “Nomination for Life Membership” by January 31.
8.6.3 During the month of February the Secretary shall verify the service record of each   nominee and forward all the nominations to the members of the Life Membership Committee.
8.6.4 The Life Membership Committee, as elected at the Annual General Meeting, shall meet during the month of March to review all nominations and make recommendation back to the Board of Management April meeting.
8.6.5 The proposer and seconder of the nominations shall be advised in writing and have the right to be heard at the meeting of the Life Membership Committee at which the nomination is being considered.
8.6.6 Only one nomination each year for Life Membership may be recommended by the Board to the Annual General Meeting, except where the nomination is with regard to rule 8.6.1 (a) in which case more than one nomination can be recommended.
8.6.7 For a nomination to be recommended to the Annual General Meeting, it must be agreed to by two thirds (2/3) majority vote by the Board of Management at their April meeting.
8.6.8 Following approval by the Board the nomination shall be included on the agenda for the Annual General Meeting together with the nominees’ service record. 

FOR FULL ARTICLE AND PHOTOS PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK

It has been a very busy start to the season with lots of nipper action at the beach and competition in full swing. Thanks to you all, South Maroubra is once again the LARGEST nipper club in AUSTRALIA! With over 1100 nippers including cadets, congratulations to you all for joining the best club in the east. 

We are so thankful to all of our volunteers for running this great program. Nothing makes me happier than seeing our cadets helping out with the younger age groups, volunteering their time to teaching others what they have learned. 

INTRODUCING OUR JUNIOR CLUB CAPTAINS & NIPPER COMMITTEE FOR THE 2023/2024 SEASON

We are also very excited to introduce the Nipper Club Captains for season 2023/2024, 
Ffyon McCabe & Isaac Kerry.
They are supported by their amazing Nipper Committee: Dominic Smith, Owen Lloyd-Jones, Owen Roorda, Clementine Saunders & Piper Ellis. We look forward to seeing them assist around the club. 

2023 NSW INTERBRANCH CHAMPIONSHIPS

We are also very excited to announce that some of our very own nipper & cadet athletes have been selected to be a part of the Sydney Branch Team to compete at the 2023 NSW Interbranch Championships to be held at Fingal Bay Beach Hunter Branch on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd December 2023. It is a great honor to be selected for this team as it represents the best athletes in Surf Life Saving Sydney Branch. In 2022 the Sydney Branch Team were crowned the NSW Interbranch Champions. It is a great experience for athletes to travel and compete with their fellow athletes from Sydney Branch. 

Congratulations to the following athletes:

U15 - Dylan Sharpe, Christopher Kondilios
U14 - Rory Muldowney, Ryan McNamara, Marli Mayne
U13 - Dewa Putu Krishna Inder, Katahra Boyle-Raniga, Emily Maxwell 
U12 - Liam Knibbs

SOUTH MAROUBRA U8 NIPPER CARNIVAL

This month we also hosted our annual U8 Nipper Challenge carnival. Many Sydney Branch clubs participated in the carnival which was great to see. This carnival is a great introduction for our U8 nippers that are interested in the competition side of Surf Life Saving. The nippers took part in events including wade, flags, sprints, relays and 500m soft sand run. A massive thank you to all of our officials, water safety, BBQ crew, registration crew & volunteers for all of your help with running such a successful event. 

CHRISTMAS SCRAMBLE 
The last nipper session for this year will be on Sunday 24th December. Mark it in your diaries. It's going to be a fantastic Xmas celebration with our annual Xmas Scramble, visit from Santa, BBQ, and much much more. More information to come out closer to the date. 

Looking forward to seeing you all on the beach. 

Peter Kondilios
Director of Youth Development

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As competition season hits full flight it is a timely reminder for all competitors to be aware of the rules around minimum patrolling hours commitments to compete. 

Please familiarise yourself with the recent SLS NSW Memo regarding the eligibility criteria.

This year the Club is looking to expand its offering in disciplines, namely First Aid, Champion Patrol, Champion Lifesaver.

There will be a Lifesaving Events Workshop on Sunday December 10th at 1pm at the Surf Club. Please contact George Alexiou on 0411601901 or ​[email protected] for more details

Vale Horst: I start this edition with a heavy heart after what has been a difficult week for many of us
here at South Maroubra Surf Club. On Wednesday 22nd November a much loved and long serving Life
Member Horst Menzel who many of you would have seen nearly on a daily basis in various settings around the club was involved in a sudden and tragic surf  accident resulting a couple of days later in his passing at Prince of Wales Hospital.

The long history of Horsts involvement and service to South Maroubra SLSC will be detailed at a later time, suffice to say it was 40 years plus of distinguished service and love of this club and its members. His connection with South Maroubra SLSC and Dolphins Winter Swimmers whilst long, productive and dotted with contributions in so many ways also extends to his families significant involvement which like Horst remains invaluable today and hopefully well into the future.

On Sunday, 25/11 from 4pm to 6pm, our club has invited Horst’s family and friends down to the club
to share stories of both the good, funny and sad  times. We hope many of you were able to share this
special time! As this situation continues to unfold, we are unable to advise funeral details but will do so as soon as the information becomes available.

On behalf of every single member, all of our many friends and the wider community we thank Horst
for his service and extend our deepest sympathy to Marj, Craig, Tracey, Simon, Kellie and the entire and large family. Vale Horst, gone to soon but never forgotten!

Can I also take this opportunity to thank Paul Duffy, John, Leo, Peter and all of the Lifeguards along with the off-duty Paramedic that worked to save Horst's life on that fateful morning. This is what Surf Life Saving and Service is all about!

Vale Tony: Also, this week at a packed St Andrews church, we bid farewell to Foundation Member Tony Brown after a long health battle. Tony was part of the group of members that ventured from Malabar Surf Club to South Maroubra back in 1959 establishing the great club we enjoy today. Living at Matraville, Tony was a quiet, unassuming businessman and gentleman that gave a great deal of time and energy starting the club with a tent, through to a donated demountable then the first footings of the club we are in today along with his great mate and one of only a couple remaining
Foundation Members Lou Armstrong. (see photo of Lou with hand on Tony's shoulder) 

We extend our sympathy to Jan, Justine, Jay, Camille and the entire family on the loss of one fine
man!

Well, that’s it with the sad news except to say over 100+ years of experience and service to the club gone in one week. We’ll all need to give a little bit more to cover the loss of these outstanding members.

Other news in brief.
Administration Upgrade: As a result of continued support of our Sunday Socials and Private Functions in the Bernie Kelly Bar and Heritage Room, we have been able to find additional funds to employee a second person in the club office. This position will be known as the Assistant to Directors with the objective to reduce the mounting workload on the club leadership whilst supporting each section of the club. A selection process has recently concluded with the successful candidate to be known soon.

Amenities Block: By now you will have seen the new yellow brick Council amenities block up and running and what a stunning building, well done to Randwick Council, a much-needed piece of community infrastructure. With the opening of new facilities, the old public toilets attached to our club have now been officially signed over to our club. This space will eventually be part of a full club upgrade so are vital in terms of footprint. Until the upgrade happens, which will be some years away the space will be used for storage of club gear not used frequently. We are presently going through a comprehensive deep clean plan followed by fumigation followed by a repaint of the old men's changeroom which are in poor condition. The extra space is much needed as we continue to grow.
Stay tuned for further information.

Club Parking: It has been reported to me that a number of club members specifically leaders of the club and lifesavers have been booked by Council Rangers for parking in the Surf Patrol parking spots, south end of our carpark. Permits have now been issued upon request to patrolling members a limited number of senior club management. Essentially these spots are for patrolling members rostered on patrol at the time of parking. If you have a permit please place it clearly on your dash as failure to do so may result in being infringed. If there is no space available in the Patrol spots then park in the carpark in front of the club (in marked parking spaces only) and put the permit on display.

Fundraising: Thank you to those that assisted the Maroubra Fun Run and Spring Festival. As we promised all funds raised will be allocated to Summer and Winter competitors to reduce costs. Also congrats to our IRB on their Santa Photo shoot Fund Raising efforts, great idea and well supported by the membership.

Sportspersons Day: Our SPORTSPERSONS DAY is schedule for Sunday 28/1/24. We are now searching for quality guest speakers which can be high profile current or former sports people or speakers with a fantastic story to tell. If you can identify a speaker that fits the bill, you are welcome to accompany them at no cost, the speaker can stay from start to finish including lunch and refreshments or simply jump into a 30-minute slot. Start recruiting your tables of 10 or even single ticket holders are welcome to be part of this fantastic day.
If you have a person that fits the bill we’d appreciate YOU touching base and coming back to us at
[email protected]

See you all at Social Sunday and please start having a chat about sportspersons day and a possible
guest speaker.

Cheers everyone!
Paul ‘Stretch’ Fownes APM OAM
President