Excellence Awards

This evening Station Excellence Awards were presented to: Station 3 Table Bay Station 6 Port Elizabeth Station 10 Simon's Town Station 14 Plettenberg Bay Station 16 Strandfontein Station 17 Hermanus Station 18 Melkbosstrand Station 21 St Francis Station 23 Wilderness Station 25 Hartbeespoort Dam Station 27 Gauteng Station 30 Agulhas Station 31 Still Bay Station 32 Port Edward Station 35 Witbank Station 37 Jeffrey's BayAwards were also presented to: Ian Strachan, Honorary Life Governor Dave Roberts, Honorary Life Governor Clive Shamley, Honorary Life Governor Eddie Noyons stands down from the Governance Board, as Chairman of the Operations Support Committee and as Regional Rep for KZN. Here, the KZN Station Commanders thank him with a special trophy of appreciation. Eddie, you always refer to 'our beloved Institute' - you served well and you will be missed. Brad Geyser takes over as Chairman of the OSC, Clifford Ireland as Regional Rep for KZN and Andre Fletcher as new Station Commander at Station 5 Durban, as Clifford steps down. A special award of thanks is presented by Mark Hughes to Plettenberg Bay's Marc Rodgers (Station Commander) and, on accepting it, he asked to share it with his Deputy, Robbie Gibson

Letter of AppreciationIt gives me great pleasure to record our appreciation for the part that you played in managing theStation 14 Plettenberg Bay slipway and beach stabilisation project. The beach in front of the rescue base had been eroded away due to a number of storms with higher than normal storm surge which placed the rescue base at risk of its foundations collapsing and the building sliding into the sea. A temporary measure during one of these storms was to have a rock wall dumped in front of the rescue base to prevent this happening.

This led to the Station being unable to launch over the exposed rock when the sand had been subsequently washed away by the sea, so a long-term solution had to be found. Designs were called for from Civil Engineers and these were submitted to you as you took on this huge task of managing the project for NSRI.

Civil Engineers were appointed for the project, tenders were received from civil contracting companies and you then managed the project from start to finish over a period of 6 months.

This involved chairing site meetings, inspections of works with the Civil engineers and the Civil contracting company and attending to the numerous problems discovered during the project. You instilled effective project management and insisted that all rectifications due to incorrect works would be done at the contractor’s own cost, providing NSRI with significant savings on the project, bringing the project to a successful completion in early April 2018 and within the budget of R555,000.

Marc, you performed a vital task for NSRI and your Station, and your tireless efforts are commended.

Graeme Harding accepts a special award on behalf of Coralie McDonald who was not able to be with us this evening. A standing ovation for Coralie

A Letter of Appreciation is presented to Coralie Wynsome McDonaldCoralie, it gives me great pleasure to record the NSRI board’s appreciation for your efforts over the past 14 years, firstly as a Sea Rescue crewman and latterly as a member of the NSRI Head Office staff.You joined Station 2, Bakoven, on 01 December 2004, at the age of 19 and immediately threw yourself into the task of becoming a very well trained crew member, obtaining your Marine Radio licence and qualifying in Fire fighting, First Aid Level III, Coastal Navigation,Outboard Motors and Surf Launching.You accumulated 326 sea hours on Stn 2’s Class III rescue boat, rising to be a deputy Cox’n in short order and were in training to be a Cox’n when ill-health forced you to stand down as active crew in February 2015.Nevertheless you stayed on at Bakoven as shore crew for a further year.Meanwhile, on 01 May 2014 you came to work at the NSRI Head Office in the newly created position of Procurement Officer. This function is a most important component of any comprehensive management system, ensuring that everything needed to keep the organization running smoothly is available at the right time, in the right place and at the right price. With your advanced knowledge of the Excel program and a UCT Supply Chain Management Course to hone your skills you have developed a most effective computerized procurement system. Coupled with your infectious sunny nature and inherent administration abilities you have become a vitally important member of the NSRI Head Office team.Thank you for exhibiting a passion over so many years for helping others through involvement in the work of the NSRI, despite serious personal obstacles to achieving this aim.