Surf club stalwart lauded

Albany Surf Life Saving Club JUstalwart Celia Waugh has beenJU recognised for more than two JUdecades of service to her club, receiving life membership with Surf Life Saving WA at the annual Awards of Excellence in Perth last Saturday.

Ms Waugh, who gained her bronze medallion 25 years ago, said it was an honour to be given life membership in commemoration of a decorated career with ASLSC

After initially helping drag the club out of a “semi-recession” in the early 1990s, Ms Waugh has taken on a variety of roles in her time with the club, including administrator, JUsecretary, treasurer and president.

Ms Waugh The former club president ssaid she became involved with the club as aJU parent.

“I started as an administrator because the club was in a semi-recession at the time and my girls were swimming at the pool,” she said. “We got kids from the pool down to the beach and started the surf club up again and they said ‘you can type, so you can be theJU secretary’.”

Albany won SLSWA club of the year twice while Ms Waugh was at the helm and she said she continued to enjoy spending time at the club.

“It’s like a family — I love doing it, it keeps me busy and active and it’s a really great environment,” she said.

“It’s given me the opportunityJU to travel to State and national JUconferences and a number of JUother opportunities.” The club was also named runner-up club of the year at the awards ceremony last Saturday for the second year in a row. Albany president Rob Mason said the result had drawn mixed emotions.

“We had a cracking year and we broke a lot of ground,” he said. “It was nice to come second again JUbut we’re obviously a little disappointed not to win overall.”