Surf lifesavers get sun-smart to save on bills
Surf lifesavers are used to being sun-smart when they’re out saving lives.
Now, at the Glenelg Surf Lifesaving Club, there’s a new “s” to add to ‘slip, slop, slap’… It’s - ‘save’!!
With help from the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing, the club recently installed 111 new solar panels – basically covering every square centimetre of the club HQ’s roof.
The impact has been tremendous: previously the club faced an annual power bill of $16,000, but since the solar panels were installed that figure has already been cut by $6,000.
That means there’s more money available to plough into essential surf lifesaving training and equipment. (The Glenelg SLSC puts in 5,000 volunteer patrol hours each summer – so there’s always plenty of need for more training and more gear!)
The total cost of the project was just over $29,000: ORSR contributed $21,500 with a facilities upgrade grant, the City of Holdfast Bay chipped in a bit, and – as befits a bunch of volunteers accustomed to hard work – club members raised the rest through their own fundraising endeavours.
We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal peoples as South Australia's first peoples and nations, we recognise Aboriginal peoples as traditional owners and occupants of land and waters in South Australia and that their spiritual, social, cultural and economic practices come from their traditional lands and waters; and they maintain their cultural and heritage beliefs, languages and laws which are of ongoing importance; We pay our respects to their ancestors and to their Elders.