MR Tuggerah Lakes member recognised with National Medal as base receives lighting and solar upgrade
by Marine Rescue NSW 23 Aug 2024 21:13 BST
Marine Rescue NSW vessels Tuggerah Lakes 20 and 21 © Marine Rescue NSW
Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes volunteer Bob Blue has been awarded the National Medal for 15 years long and diligent service to community.
Following a career with the Australian Defence Force, Mr Blue began volunteering with Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes in 2016 and is today a rated senior crew member and radio officer.
Mr Blue was presented the medal by Minister for the Central Coast and Member for Wyong The Hon. David Harris during a ceremony at the unit's Toukley base.
Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes Unit Commander Bob Sutton thanked Mr Blue for his commitment to saving lives on the water.
"Bob is a highly skilled and dedicated volunteer at the unit and it is wonderful to see his long service to community acknowledged.
"He is an extremely reliable and committed member of our unit, I've been tasked to numerous emergency responses with Bob and have total confidence working alongside him, the community should be proud to have such a wonderful man serving our area," Unit Commander Sutton said.
Minister Harris also inspected the unit's upgraded solar system, which was funded through a $20,566 Community Building Partnership Program grant.
The solar system powers the Toukley base saving the unit approximately $4,000 annually.
"Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes is extremely grateful for the financial assistance provided by the NSW Government to facilitate the solar upgrade," Unit Commander Sutton said.
"The money saved on electricity can now be spent on lifesaving equipment and maintaining our service to assist users of our local waterways," he said.
Lighting inside and around the base has also been upgraded with LED lights which will improve safety and response times at night.
"The upgraded lighting has made an incredible difference to crew readiness and response times during evening rescue missions.
"The lights cover the jetty and boat ramp making it safer for our volunteers and the people we rescue when transferring them from our vessels.
With the new boating season approaching on October 1, Unit Commander Sutton is reminding users of local waterways to always prepare before heading out on the water and to continually monitor conditions.
"The weather can turn very quickly over the Tuggerah Lakes so if you arrive at the boat ramp and conditions have deteriorated, don't risk it, there will always be another day when conditions are favourable," he said.
So far this year, volunteers at Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes have completed 36 search and rescue missions including 4 emergency responses, safely returning 62 people to shore.
Marine Rescue NSW is a volunteer based not-for-profit professional organisation dedicated to keeping boaters safe on the water and supporting local communities.