Across Foxton are volunteers from every walk of life helping the community in almost every way you can think of. In this occasional series of photo-articles, the MAVtech Museum’s photographer Jacob Brookie is using vintage cameras from the museum’s collection to show you a day in the life of our town’s volunteers.
The hot days of summer saw Foxton Beach full of swimmers - and the Foxton Beach Surf Lifesaving Club was busy keeping them safe in the water. In this photo-article MAVtech’s cameras joined club members Holly Pedley and Charlie de Woeps on a surf patrol - and even ventured out on the water courtesy of an IRB.
The Foxton Surf Lifesaving Club has around 40 volunteers including 12 surf lifesavers. Volunteers hold many vital roles away from the water, including patrol support members who help with observation and first aid as well as committee members and fundraisers. No matter where they volunteer, everyone helps to keep the beach safe. The club’s summer weekend patrols are run by volunteers and there’s also lots of training which goes on behind the scenes. The previous season saw club members donate 1262 volunteer hours.
The local council supports weekday paid patrols over the peak summer season, and some local lifesavers are part of these alongside members of other regional surf lifesaving clubs. In the past year, the Foxton Beach Club members have volunteered their time to host weekend development sessions. These familiarise other clubs on the conditions of Foxton Beach in preparation for summer.
An important part of the volunteers’ training is practising a rescue in the IRB. These inflatable boats can skirt over the waves with ease but operating one, and knowing how to maintain it, is a real skill. Some of the photographs in this article show a rescue drill, with a club volunteer taking the place of a swimmer in difficulty. The other volunteers practise safely removing the swimmer from the water and taking them safely back to shore. Usually this exercise needs just one IRB but this time a second boat was sent out to hold Jacob and his camera.