Mordialloc Life Saving Club

🌊 2025/2026 Senior Presentation Night – Patrol Awards 🌊

At our recent Senior Presentation Night, we celebrated our incredible patrolling members and recognised those who truly went above and beyond this season.
With over 150 active patrolling members, selecting award recipients is never easy. Each and every member contributes countless voluntary hours to keep our beach safe — something we are immensely proud of!

👏 Congratulations to our 2025/2026 Patrol Award Winners:

🏆 Top Patrol Hours (140 hrs)
Brenton Sayle

🌟 Best New Patrolling Member
Thomas Street
Miguel Del Rio
Tobin Luder
Taj Jepson

⏱ Patrol Hour Recognition
Sue Erickson-Clark – 71 hrs
James Evans – 75 hrs
Ma**ca Roach – 73 hrs
Thomas Street – 78 hrs

🏅 Tolley Batten Award – Best Senior Patroller
Brenton Sayle

🏅 Jackie Kavanagh Award – Best Junior Patroller
Georgia Tarr

A huge thank you to all of our patrolling members for your dedication, commitment, and willingness to serve our community. Your efforts ensure our beach remains a safe and enjoyable place for everyone.

💛 Here’s to another fantastic season ahead!

NATIONAL MEDAL

This year’s Presentation Night marked a truly special moment in the Mordialloc Life Saving Club history.

The Australian National Medal was established by the Commonwealth in 1975, recognising long and dedicated service in organisations that protect our community. For Surf Life Saving, it honours active Bronze Medallion proficiency holders from 1987 onwards, who have demonstrated outstanding commitment.

To be eligible, members must serve in critical frontline roles such as patrolling members, lifeguards, rescue helicopter crew, emergency response personnel, or IRB/offshore rescue crews.

But the most significant requirement?

A minimum of 30 patrol hours every season for at least 15 years — that’s 450+ hours of voluntary service where members put themselves at risk to keep others safe.

For the first time ever, Mordialloc is celebrating five members receiving this prestigious award in a single year. With only a small number of Victorian lifesavers holding this honour, this achievement is nothing short of remarkable.

🌟 Our recipients:

Grant Rattenbury - 17 years of service, 830 patrolling hours

David Roach - 17 years of service, 1300 patrolling hours

Michael Barbarino - 30 years of service, 1500 patrolling hours (not pictured)

Winston Burger - 31 years of service, 2000 patrolling hours

James Evans – 33 years of service, 3800 volunteer patrolling hours

Congratulations to our incredible recipients — your dedication, courage, and commitment to our community does not go unnoticed. 🌊👏

💛 A big thank you to our partner Dever’s List for your incredible commitment this season 🙌

Your support has enabled us to upgrade and purchase the essential equipment our volunteers rely on to keep Mordialloc Beach safe and well‑patrolled 🛟🌊.

It has also helped drive fantastic results across our sporting programs, giving our athletes the opportunity to perform at their best 🏆💨.

We’re grateful for your continued belief in our club — together, we’re building a stronger, safer, and more successful community 🤝❤️

-lifesaving

And just like that, the 2025–26 Summer Season comes to a close, and we couldn’t be prouder of our club’s Nipper Program and our incredible junior beach and pool athletes.

What a fabulous afternoon it was celebrating and recognising our U6–U13 Nippers, the many achievements across the season, and farewelling our U13s as they prepare to move into the youth and senior arena.

Congratulations to this year’s award recipients: 👏🏼👏🏼

• Isabelle Thornborrow – Junior Club Champion, Joan Speirs Trophy
• Esmee Kerkhof – Best Junior Club Person, Lyn and Neale Maxwell Trophy
• Isabelle Thornborrow – Best Surf Competitor, John Newton Craft Champion
• Bo Guyton and Will Squires – Best Beach Competitor
• U13 Girls – Nippers Best Team

Congratulations also to our U8 and U11 Pool Lifesaving teams, who both broke State Records, and to Mordialloc Life Saving Club on being crowned Pool Lifesaving State Title Club Champions 2025.

A well-deserved congratulations also to:

• Michael Meyer – Age Manager of the Year, Bedford Family Shield
• Avril Switalla – Parent Helper of the Year

A huge thank you to the incredible support network that surrounds our Nipper community — our Age Managers and assistants, coaches, water safety personnel, officials and families. Your commitment, encouragement and countless hours make programs like this possible and help create such a strong and connected club culture.
Thank you for another wonderful season. We already can’t wait for the next one. ❤️🤍💙

We were honoured to gather at the Derrimut Weelam Gathering Place yesterday for National Reconciliation Day. 🖤💛❤️

Her Worship the Mayor, Georgina Oxley, joined community members in supporting this year’s theme, “All In” — a reminder for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every year.

The morning began with a moving Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony, followed by a shared morning tea at the Mordialloc Life Saving Club.

A heartfelt thank‑you to everyone who came together in the spirit of unity, respect, and continued learning. 🙏

💛 A big thank you to our partners Van Der Meer for your incredible commitment this season 🙌

Your support has enabled us to upgrade and purchase the essential equipment our volunteers rely on to keep Mordialloc Beach safe and well‑patrolled 🛟🌊. It has also helped drive fantastic results across our sporting programs, giving our athletes the opportunity to perform at their best 🏆💨.

We’re grateful for your continued support for our club — together, we’re building a stronger, safer, and more successful community 🤝❤️

🔵⚪🔴

FUN FACT FRIDAY 🏊🏼‍♂️🏆

🥇 Mordialloc Life Saving Club are the only Victorian club in history, to win a Pool Rescue 4 Person Relay medal at the SLSA Pool Rescue Championships. 💪🏼

Even more impressive, Mordialloc Life Saving Club has achieved 62 podium finishes across all age groups, while every other Victorian club combined has recorded zero relay podiums in this event category.

An incredible achievement built on years of hard work, teamwork, and commitment to Pool Rescue excellence. 👏🏼👏🏼

🌟 National Volunteer Week 18-24 May, 2026 🌟

This week we celebrate the incredible people who give their time, energy, and heart to make our club and community thrive.

A huge thank you to all our patrolling members, coaches, officials, age managers, team managers, and committee members for the countless hours you dedicate to keeping our beaches safe and our community supported.

Your commitment, teamwork, and passion make Mordialloc Life Saving Club such a positive place to belong. ❤️🤍💙

On Wednesday night, Jemma was named a finalist for the prestigious Kitty McEwan Award at the Awards — recognising outstanding results at National and International levels in the Open Women category.

Although Jemma didn’t take home the award this time, she is always a winner in our eyes. 🙌🏼

Her dedication, achievements, and the way she represents our club on every stage make us immensely proud. 💙

Congratulations, Jem — we’re behind you all the way. 👏🏼👏🏼