Awards Evening at Durban Rescue Base

This week Durban Station 5 held their annual awards evening.Durban’s Station Commander, Clifford Ireland, welcomed all the guests and crew. The Station was very fortunate to have some valued sponsors join in the proceedings.Namely; Paul Lotter from Seaworld Ushaka, Jason Labuschagne from Delta Fire, Peter Lomax from Wakefields Yellowwood Park, Andy Seaward from Bluff Yacht Club, Lucy de Vreitas from Point Yacht Club, Graham Rose from Royal Natal Yacht Club.Clifford thanked all the sponsors for their valued support in keeping the NSRI saving lives. He also thanked all the families for allowing the Crew to give up their family time to assist other’s so they too could go back to their families. Clifford then thanked the crew for all their hard work and dedication given to helping people in trouble. Without our volunteers, Sea Rescue would not exist.Clifford then gave a brief talk on the NSRI’s plans to improve their Big Boat fleet around the country over the next 20 years. Majority of the Big Boats in the fleet are old RNLI boats dating back to the 1980’s. They have been well maintained at their homes around the country, but are starting to show their age.Once the presentation came to an end, Clifford began handing out the awards.Awards as follows:-

Award	Trophy Name	2015
Best Trainee	The Portnet Trophy	Julian Singh
Most Improved Crewman	Mr. S. Erwee	David Hoffman
Team Player Award	DPS Committee	George Petzer
The Crew's Crewperson of the Year	Brendan Bubb	George Petzer
Best Crew	Total Efficiency Trophy	Port
Best Crewman of the Year	-	Stephen Muller

Long Service awards were presented to Karen Kennedy, Quinn Kennedy, Hymie Miya for 10 years service to the NSRI.This year’s awards evening was a very sad occasion for everyone at Durban Station 5. Stephen Muller, a fellow crew member, passed away two weeks before the awards evening.Stephen’s family, Thelma and Ryan attended the function. Stephen was awarded his 10 year service award and the “Best Crewman of the Year”. These awards were accepted by Ryan on behalf of Stephen.