Albany Surf Life Saving Club secures $704,000 to deliver Middleton Beach facility expansion

Albany Surf Life Saving Club has secured a further $704,000 to expand its Middleton Beach facility with the project team hoping to start the build in March 2023. The new Lotterywest grant was the final piece in the funding puzzle for the long-awaited project and follows a $1.6 million State Government election commitment and $400,000 from the City of Albany. The more than $2.7m expansion is set to improve the safety and efficiency of the facility and create more space for training, education and community activities. The club has recorded a 42 per cent swell in membership over the past five years with about 450 members of all ages currently on the books. Expansion co-ordinator Rob Mason said a priority was to streamline the club’s emergency response team’s operations — a group of experienced volunteers who are on call 24-7 to assist marine rescue and police with emergency call-outs along Albany’s coast. The expansion will ensure the team’s emergency equipment can be safely stored and quickly accessed, and to allow surf boards, jet skis and inflatable rescue boats to be launched easily off the beach. It will also improve access for ambulances. “It really started with the chief aim of moving all the motorised equipment, fuel, workshop and heavy gear away from the pedestrian areas of the club and particularly the kids,” Mr Mason said. “And also to centralise the lifesaving and patrol hub with a new first-aid room and provide some better shelter, not only for club members but the community in addition to extra training and storage facilities.” Mr Mason said they were aiming for the expansion to begin next March and be completed for the 2023-24 season. Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens — who has been a member of the club since she was a nipper — said the expansion would benefit the locals and tourists that use Albany’s only patrolled beach. “The club has been part of the Albany community since 1917 and in recent years has experienced a big increase in membership, putting the existing facilities under enormous strain,” she said. Albany Surf Life Saving Club president Sarah Bowles said the expansion was a holistic solution to many challenges currently faced by the club. “Albany will have a safer, more efficient and welcoming community facility with greater capacity to benefit a wider range of the community through new and improved access to facilities, improved lifesaving and water safety operations, and new training and education spaces,” she said.