PORT Macquarie Surf Life Saving Club will celebrate 50 years of nippers, with three days of partying planned for next month.
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One of the club’s first-ever nippers, Fred Middleton, will be a part of the festivities and will even compete in events, as he has done for 50 years.
Middleton first signed up to the nippers in 1962, when he lived just a few hundred metres from Flynn’s Beach.
As well as gaining valuable life-saving skills and a host of friends, Middleton has been extremely successful in competition.
He has won 12 Australian surf lifesaving championships and more than 40 state championships.
“I signed up as a 12-year-old and I’ve kept with the sport ever since,” he said.
“I love the competition side of things and also helping the community.”
Celebrations will kick off on Friday, March 8 with a casual get-together at the club house, which will include finger food, bar facilities and the chance to catch up with old and new friends.
On Saturday, March 9 from 11am the club will hold a community open day which will include a “decade by decade” challenge, where you can pit your swim, board and running skills against nippers, both past and present.
The open day will also feature a barbecue lunch, a tour of the club’s facilities and activities for the kids such as a jumping castle and face painting.
The event will conclude on Sunday, March 10 with a modified nippers training day and a chance to meet the 2012/2013 season nippers.
Middleton said he wasn’t surprised at the success nippers had gone on to have since he signed up.
“You never know what the future is going to bring and the nippers will always be around in my opinion,” he said.
To RSVP or for more information, e-mail nippers50yrs@gmail.com or phone Glen Towle on 0412 229 081.