A most pleasant evening of celebrations, fun and camaraderie was experienced by the crew from NSRI Station 21 at St Francis Links last night (23 November) when the Annual Awards event was held.
Meriel Bartlett, Executive Director from NSRI Head Quarters in Cape Town, made a surprise visit to join in the evening to present Special Awards from the CEO Ian Weinberg to each Station 21 crew member, as well as one for Station 36 (Oyster Bay), Station 37 (Jeffreys Bay), Robin Brown from 24/7 Paramedics and Jeff Clause from the Links who had assisted in the recent fire disaster experienced by the Village.
Marc May, Station Commander, thanked everyone including all organisations that had worked so tirelessly at this disaster. He stated how very proud he was of all his crew who had been called on during the past year to assist the community of St Francis Bay with a number of events such as the fires, the floods and ferrying people across the Kromme River after the bridge was washed away once again and who all acted tirelessly without hesitation far beyond their duties as volunteers.
He gave special thanks to his wife, Anneke, who supported and assisted him throughout the year and for the special evening she had organised for the crew. Awards were handed to the following crew: The Shambles Award for the crew member performing beyond his duty was shared by Koos Van Wyk and Albert Saunders, Rookie of The Year was presented to Stuart O’Bray, the fun trophy – the Fork-up – was unanimously chosen and given to Chris Costanza, the Dave Oosthuizen Trophy usually presented to one outstanding crew member and chosen by the Statcom, was awarded to everyone on Station 21.
The St Francis Links ‘ Chef Brad put on a fantastic and yummy finger supper as some photos here show.
It was a most successful evening, enjoyed by all just prior to the festive season, traditionally a very busy period for Station 21.
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Photos by Bev Mortimer, St Francis Chronicle
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No one could deserve being awarded more than the NSRI station 21.. Our house was burnt down and lost our lifes possessions, fortunately not our lives thanks to Kerwin and his determination in warning us making sure we left our house before we got injured. Impossible to thank NSRI enough …. Words cannot express how grateful we are … Thank you NSRI Station 21.. Beth and Pierre Cerff