Surf Clubs’ Work

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25934, 14 October 1949, Page 6

Surf Clubs’ Work

The gift of £250 to the New Brighton Surf Club by Mrs C. M. Chivers, widow of a former patron, reported this week, is generous recognition of the work this club and other surf clubs have done and are doing to keep Canterbury beaches safe for swimmers. Mrs Chivers has set an example which other public-spirited citizens might well imitate. The members of the clubs are always ready to go to the aid of swimmers in difficulty in the surf; and the record of their rescues speaks for itself. But their efforts, which are purely voluntary, have not been fully appreciated. The clubs have had not much public appreciation and all too little public support. Many who visit the beaches in summer are inclined to take the clubs’ service ffjr granted, forgetting that money is needed to keep lifeaving <ear in order, ar»d th:>t club memberr. give up much of their spare time; no that bathing can be made aafe for everyone. Even thbae peraona who have

| been rescued from the surf have I shown little practical appreciation [of the surf clubs’ efforts. An amaz- ! ingly small amount has been con- ! tributed by them to the clubs that | have in effect saved their lives, i This summer thousands of people I will again visit the Canterbury j beaches; and if they bathe within the patrolled areas they will be protected, very substantially, ! against accident or the results of ' their own folly. Stronger public ‘support for the clubs, shown by ; substantial donations, will enable them to carry on their self-imposed task more easily and more efficiently.