On Sunday, 4 December 2016 a rather unique event occurred, 3 generations of the 1 family patrolled Stanwell Park Beach. Peter McDonald (68), his son Steven McDonald (45) and grandson Lachlan McDonald (13) all signed on to patrol for the afternoon shift from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. This has not occurred in recent history at Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club.
While Steven and Lachlan joined as nippers and have progressed through their various awards with Steven doing his first patrol after gaining his Life Saving Certificate in 1984 and Lachlan gaining his Surf Rescue Certificate on 27 November 2016, Peter joined surf lifesaving a bit later in life. Peter gained his Bronze Medallion in 1989 at the age of 41. It should be noted that Steven trained his dad, and Peter trained his grandson for their Bronze Medallion and Surf Rescue Certificates respectively.
Peter was dragged into the Surf Club reluctantly after his wife Sandra volunteered to be a Pointscore Recorder for Nippers in the early 1980’s, since then for Peter surf lifesaving has been a big part of his life. He officiated at surf carnivals, was chairperson of the Nippers, dragged the Nipper trailer up and down the NSW coast to many, many surf carnivals, organised Debutante Balls for the teenage club members, trainer for the Surf Rescue Certificate, was club secretary, elevated to Life Member in 2009, chief cleaner of the surf club, was a founding member of the Stanwell Park Sea Eels Winter Swimming Club and current Sea Eels President, the current Patrol Secretary and still an active Patrolling Member. Not bad for someone who learnt to swim in Farmers Creek, Lithgow. Peter’s dedication to life saving includes attending 100% of his rostered patrols since he started patrolling.
Steven is the current President of the surf club, and has served the club in many roles over the years including 15 years as Chief Training Officer. He has been a patrol captain since he turned 18 and was elevated to Life Member of the Club in 2007. In 1992 he was awarded Life Saver of the Year for Illawarra and went on to represent Illawarra as a finalist in NSW Life Saver of the Year.
With this pedigree, Lachlan was destined to join the surf club and when old enough start patrolling, and he has done that. Lachlan was very keen to get on patrol once he has completed his Surf Rescue Certificate. After his Surf Rescue Certificate squad were confirmed as life savers he and his fellow squad members Max Walker, Karl Gibbs, Taya Nye, Jack Bridges, Isaac Pietrzak and Nathan Fuller all headed to the water’s edge to assist their fellow nippers with Water Safety. Lachlan from the day he joined nippers was happy to be on the path to being a life saver, so much so he took his Nippers Cap to school for “Show’n’Tell” and wore it at school all day.
The McDonald’s first patrol together involved 1 rescue and treating more than 20 Blue Bottle Stings, apart from that it was a typical day on Stanwell Park Beach.
