Surf Talk host, Ross Smith, is joined by Peter Taylor, the Diversity and Inclusion Officer at West Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
Together, they discuss the importance of water safety education for migrants, community groups and families who may lack critical swimming skills and lifesaving knowledge. They also highlight how individuals can reach out to get involved in one of the many programs offered by SLSSA and local surf life saving clubs.
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Ross Smith:
00:05-00:44
Hi, I'm Ross Smith and welcome to Surf Talk, Surf Life Saving South Australia's podcast. Every fortnight, we'll be releasing new episodes of Surf Talk. We'll be talking everything Surf Life Saving South Australia, what we're about, what we do, and on the way, we'll be interviewing some amazing people, from club members and their achievements to outstanding rescues and everything in between. Once again, welcome to Surf Talk, I'm Ross Smith. Before we get into the program, episode nine of Surf Talk is proudly brought to you by Surf Life Saving South Australia's Commercial Training Department. You'll hear more about that a bit later on. Our special guest today is Peter Taylor. Peter is diversity and inclusion officer at West Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Welcome to Surf Talk, Peter.
Peter Taylor:
00:44-00:46
Thank you, Ross. I'm happy to be here.
Ross Smith:
00:46-00:59
Nice to have you, mate. You've got a, an amazing history with surf, uh, quite a long time, o- over 18 years, I, I hear. So, what drew you to surf life saving, and, and what drew you to, I suppose, West Beach back in, what was it, 1995?
Peter Taylor:
00:59-01:35
That's correct, it was actually about 1993 that my wife and I, Karen, we decided to bring our two girls down to do nippers. Had some friends that said, you know, "Come on down. Bring 'em along." So we did that in '93, um, started our life saving journey just then. Went on to doing some barbecue cooking as you do as a, as a, as a nipper parent and, um, and then in '95, um, this other gentleman, Dave Richardson, who's still a member, and myself decided that we'd do our bronze medallion, so-
Ross Smith:
01:18-01:35
And that's where it started?
Peter Taylor:
01:35-01:39
... actively, actively training. By October that, in '95, we had our bronze medallion, yeah.
Ross Smith:
01:39-01:43
And you live close to West Beach, or what drew you to West Beach? Was that not far from where you live, or?
Peter Taylor:
01:43-01:45
Not far. We're over at, um, Richmond, so-
Ross Smith:
01:44-01:45
Right.
Peter Taylor:
01:45-01:51
... if it wasn't for the airport, yeah, it'd be straight down Richmond Road and then you're, you're there, but yeah, still f- still close.
Ross Smith:
01:51-01:53
Nice club, new building.
Peter Taylor:
01:53-01:53
Beautiful building now.
Ross Smith:
01:53-01:54
Isn't it fantastic? Yeah.
Peter Taylor:
01:55-01:55
Oh, just love it, love it to bits.
Ross Smith:
01:55-02:03
I haven't been to the restaurant there yet, but, um, a lot of people I know have, and that experience of the sunset and the evening, it's booked out regularly, I, I hear.
Peter Taylor:
02:03-02:10
It is, it is. It's a very busy place. There's not too many places like it along the, along the coast, so, uh-
Ross Smith:
02:05-02:10
No, very, very special.
Peter Taylor:
02:10-02:18
Yeah, very, very happy. I'm a bit disappointed that I'm not a trainer anymore now that they've got this beautiful new training room downstairs, but, um-
Ross Smith:
02:11-02:19
Oh, you might jump back into that at some point. Who knows?
Peter Taylor:
02:19-02:19
Yeah, you never know.
Ross Smith:
02:20-02:27
So with your training, you had a long history of patrolling and, and training new surf lifesavers. What were some of the most rewarding moments, you know, f- fr- from doing that?
Peter Taylor:
02:27-03:07
When I first started back in '95, did the bronze under the guidance for the juniors was a gentleman Dennis Hay, and we started, you know, became good friends, and still are. We started working together and by the end of his reign, when his kids grew up, I took over as junior chief instructor, and that got me into the training side of things. So I enjoyed the fact that the 13-year-olds had to do their surf rescue certificate, so I started learning how to teach and did my trainers for surf rescue, trainers for bronze, and it's just flowed from, from there.
Ross Smith:
03:07-03:09
So you just kept doing- Just- ... some more stuff?
Peter Taylor:
03:09-03:19
Just kept on doing more stuff, yeah. It's, um, it's, it's a very important thing to, uh, to do and, and the education was, was my goal. I really enjoyed the, uh-
Ross Smith:
03:17-03:19
It's very rewarding, isn't it?
Peter Taylor:
03:19-03:20
It is.
Ross Smith:
03:20-03:39
I was talking about, in a podcast that m- I got, I got interviewed myself about training and how our trainers even in the commercial side doing first aid and the like, all training, you know, new, new people. If you, if you love what you do, you love the training, and it makes it so much different than the sort of cardboard cut-out working off a, off a PowerPoint. You've gotta b- embrace it, don't you?
Peter Taylor:
03:39-04:09
You do. You do, and it's that people that are training to be a, a surf lifesaver, that look of anticipation when they first start, to the look of joy when they've, they've finished their ten weeks of training and- Yeah. ... and they become qualified surf lifesavers, whether they're-
Ross Smith:
03:52-04:09
I suppose it's all very daunting and, you know, it's like, "Well, how can I deal with this?" And, and then once, o- once they get into it, they go, "This is just, like, the best thing."
Peter Taylor:
03:52-04:09
It, it is, it is, and, and over the years I've trained so many people that have, that have come and go, but you know, they all leave with a bit of knowledge and, um-
Ross Smith:
03:52-04:09
Oh, great skills. Right.
Peter Taylor:
04:09-04:11
... and, and great skills to go, go with them.
Ross Smith:
04:11-04:18
So I know you're an... I didn't introduce you properly. Can you tell us a bit more about what your role is now in surf life saving?
Peter Taylor:
04:18-05:02
It's a role that was basically been made up. I'm the diversity officer for, for West Beach. It's something that I've been doing since 2007, roughly. Been a member since '95, so nearly 30 years, but at least coming up to 18 years this year as the diversity officer and, uh, we found it was very important area to get ourselves involved in as a club. My daughter Gemma was working with people from Thebarton Senior College and running a program with them, and that sort of got me more thinking about how we can work with migrants and refugees about water safety. At that stage, my wife worked in a, a cafe in the city.
Ross Smith:
05:02-05:03
Wow.
Peter Taylor:
05:03-05:03
Right?
Ross Smith:
05:03-05:03
Okay.
Peter Taylor:
05:03-05:52
Underneath the Uniting Church, it was. So, um, I used to go in there, being in my job and being in the city, so I'd have my coffees and I noticed that a large group of Sudanese people heading into the church. So one day I just decided to go and knock on someone's door in there and met this lady by the name of Lily, who was a minister there. We then carried on to work together for the next eight years. But I, I just said, "What can we do as a life saving club, West Beach, to help your new arrivals here to become more water savvy?"
Ross Smith:
05:29-05:52
Yeah, and, and I, I guess that inspired you to get into that area and, and do it as you're doing it now, because we're seeing, you know, people from landlocked countries and, you know, that aren't exposed to, to swimming lessons and water safety, and they come here and everyone's on the beach.
Peter Taylor:
05:52-05:52
Everyone's on the beach.
Ross Smith:
05:52-05:58
Hot day and it was, you know, you see the, the, the pictures of, you know, all the beaches, uh, over the summer period, you know, just like packed.
Peter Taylor:
05:58-05:59
Yes. Yes.
Ross Smith:
05:59-06:05
Uh, and so they go, "Oh, well everyone goes to the beach." But having that lack of skill, we've seen sadly people from other countries drowning-
Peter Taylor:
05:59-06:05
That's correct, yeah.
Ross Smith:
06:05-06:09
... with just the lack of skills. So, it's an incredible thing that you're, that you're, you know, you're involved in.
Peter Taylor:
06:09-06:10
Thank you.
Ross Smith:
06:10-06:10
Must be very rewarding.
Peter Taylor:
06:10-06:13
It is very, very rewarding, um, yes.
Ross Smith:
06:13-06:19
So I've got a question, was how do you get involved, but you've already told me, that's fantastic. So you just, you just went in and asked, yeah? You just-
Peter Taylor:
06:18-06:30
Yeah. Yep. Went in and asked and, um, uh, to this day, um, we've got a really good rapport. Um, I haven't seen Lily for now, for the last couple of years, but, um, you know, if we do, it's, it's just like yesterday, so.
Ross Smith:
06:30-06:51
So if anyone's listening from a multicultural background, would they just come and get in touch with you to, to go, go to West Beach, get a look at West Beach Club online and reach out to you to say, "We've got a group of people who-"
Peter Taylor:
06:30-06:54
Yeah, if they, if they're not sure, they could always, always come through Surf Life Saving South Australia, 'cause it would depend on what areas they, they live in, what's best available for transport for them. They could definitely put them in touch with any club.
Ross Smith:
06:54-06:56
Just give us a call here at Surf and we'll go through those numbers for you later on.
Peter Taylor:
06:56-06:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, yeah, yeah.
Ross Smith:
06:57-06:57
Yeah.
Peter Taylor:
06:57-07:10
They, they'll be certainly be able to point, point them in the right direction. I visit of late a lot of community organizations, so I've got a pretty good rapport out there at the moment with lots of people, so they do tend to get in touch with me.
Ross Smith:
07:10-07:14
So, so they know that you're running these multicultural programs, you're the sort of the guru of it?
Peter Taylor:
07:14-07:18
Well, I don't know. Wouldn't call myself a guru, but, um-
Ross Smith:
07:15-07:18
But you're the person.
Peter Taylor:
07:18-07:22
But, but my name's out there probably a bit, so-
Ross Smith:
07:18-07:22
Well, that's good.
Peter Taylor:
07:22-07:23
So that's how you say.
Ross Smith:
07:23-07:25
That's good they feel comfortable to reach out.
Peter Taylor:
07:25-07:41
And the more you do it, the more comfortable they do become, so and for me, it's been very proactive about actually approaching them. A lot of groups won't, will not just contact a, an organization, but for them to be contacted, they'll, they'll make a stand and they say-
Ross Smith:
07:33-08:03
I think that's it. I mean, that feels like our duty, doesn't it, to, to make everyone safe regardless of where they're from. So, so our duty to sort of go out and say, "You might not want to approach us, but here, I'm knocking on your door." You know, it's gonna be, it's gonna be inclusive. It's gonna be easy. We're gonna get you through this and, and make you safer. And, and, and look, the overall goal is to reduce more drownings and reduce more incidents-
Peter Taylor:
07:58-08:03
That's the overall goal, yes.
Ross Smith:
08:03-08:14
... on our beaches, and, and we certainly need that. You've got some programs running, and there's one called On the Same Wave program. It's been running over, like, 15 years now. Can you give us a bit more information about that?
Peter Taylor:
08:14-08:28
Yeah. That was something that's...Probably the program that got us involved to start with, so the On The Same Wave program was developed by Surf Life Saving Australia. It was after the 2005 Cronulla riots, which was a pretty ordinary time in-
Ross Smith:
08:24-08:28
It was.
Peter Taylor:
08:28-08:52
... our history. And Surf Life Saving South Au- Australia decided that they needed to do something to create a more multicultural aspect within surf, and they developed the On The Same Wave program. And we've been doing that particular program since, um, we started in 2007. May have had a couple of little name changes along the way, but basically it's always been the On The Same Wave.
Ross Smith:
08:52-08:55
The same principle. This is preaching from the same hymn book, yeah.
Peter Taylor:
08:55-09:07
Try and get people involved, try and get them to learn and then take their knowledge back into their community so they can then pass on to other members and, uh, hopefully get the word out there about...
Ross Smith:
09:07-09:25
Yeah, it's really important. And, and if anyone's li- you know, listening from, you know, our clubbies or, or anyone that's a member of the public or some of our corporate clients, if you know people from the internationally that's arrived here or even been here for a long period of time, from any multicultural background, you know, reach out to us because yeah, it's, it's... We want everyone to be inclusive-
Peter Taylor:
09:24-09:25
That's right.
Ross Smith:
09:25-09:28
... and being there, having a damn great time on the beach.
Peter Taylor:
09:28-09:28
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Smith:
09:28-09:29
That's what it's all about.
Peter Taylor:
09:29-09:30
That, that's what it's all about.
Ross Smith:
09:30-09:33
Swim between the flags. Get the- Yeah. ... message out there. Stay safe.
Peter Taylor:
09:33-09:33
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
09:33-09:34
And it doesn't matter where you're from.
Peter Taylor:
09:34-10:05
So that, that Swim Between the Flags has been a motto for a long, long time. In the last 12 months I've stopped using that particular motto because I had a lady come up to me one day and said, "I, I heard about going to the beach and the red and yellow flags and if you wanna come down and swim, you swim between those flags." And she said, "Myself and family aren't swimmers. We couldn't swim, can't swim." So they decided to go somewhere else because that's... They thought it was for swimmers.
Ross Smith:
10:05-10:06
Oh my goodness.
Peter Taylor:
10:06-10:14
So I've changed that now to, "If you go to the beach, find the red and yellow flags, go there."
Ross Smith:
10:06-10:14
That's so important.
Peter Taylor:
10:14-10:15
A sim- simple little-
Ross Smith:
10:14-10:15
A simple language change.
Peter Taylor:
10:15-10:17
... simple little thing, yep.
Ross Smith:
10:17-10:19
That's important, isn't it? That is great message.
Peter Taylor:
10:19-10:39
Yeah. So these are the things that you need to take into consideration when we do anything or talk about things. It's, um, you know, a lot of cultures don't have a word for rip, so we need to then change how we talk about a certain situation and what the right word or the right meaning would be for that particular language.
Ross Smith:
10:39-10:44
Because the language barrier, the English as a second language, you're right, we use, and we slang it a fair bit, you know?
Peter Taylor:
10:44-10:45
We slang it a lot.
Ross Smith:
10:45-10:47
We gotta. We do. We're, we're shocking.
Peter Taylor:
10:47-10:49
I teach that. I teach-
Ross Smith:
10:47-10:49
I'm sure you do.
Peter Taylor:
10:49-10:50
I teach, I teach the Australian slang-
Ross Smith:
10:49-10:50
Good, good.
Peter Taylor:
10:50-10:50
...
Peter Taylor:
10:50-10:51
within the thing so they understand you.
Ross Smith:
10:51-11:04
But it's kind of been since I've grown up around beaches, it's sort of swim between the flags. And, and to us it's, we get that, but the words swim between the flags. So that is incredible. And, and rip, if there's no word for rip in some of the-
Peter Taylor:
11:00-11:04
That's correct, yeah.
Ross Smith:
11:04-11:05
... in some of the languages.
Peter Taylor:
11:05-11:10
Yeah. So we just change it to something fairly easy, a body of water moving back out towards the sea.
Ross Smith:
11:11-11:11
I see.
Peter Taylor:
11:11-11:12
So, so we do that.
Ross Smith:
11:12-11:14
Yeah, it makes absolute sense.
Peter Taylor:
11:14-11:14
It does, yeah.
Ross Smith:
11:14-11:26
I, I, I get it completely. Well, obviously it's... I've got here how important is the program to you? Clearly important. So you said the Sudanese community. Have you, have you worked with other communities as well in, in South Australia?
Peter Taylor:
11:26-11:58
Yes, yes. Um, at the moment... Well, this particularly has been, um, really good, um, retiring and having a bit more time up my sleeve. But this year we've been working with the Australian Refugee Association, the Migrant Resource Center, the Islamic Association and the Muslim Association. I knew that was in there. So that's just a few. And we have our other, other ones, um, that we've used, um, worked with in the past as well. Thebarton Senior College, we've worked with them in the past. But yeah, so this year's been really quite good.
Ross Smith:
11:58-12:07
What do you find some of the biggest challenges? I suppose we sort of briefly touched on them about wording, so what, what... Are there any other challenges that you face when you're trying to learn, you know, or teach people about water safety?
Peter Taylor:
12:07-12:24
Obviously language is the, the biggest barrier. If you have other people that are helping, and at the moment we, we have a number of people from a range of different countries that if we have a group of Chinese people come to the beach, we have Chinese members that will-
Ross Smith:
12:10-12:24
Fantastic.
Peter Taylor:
12:24-12:43
... translate. Monica and, and Blake this year came with me to the TAFE in LA, Curry Street TAFE, and I was do- presenting a water safety talk and they came and they, they translated in, in Mandarin for me. So, you know, that's, that's the sort of thing that I'm trying to build-
Ross Smith:
12:39-12:43
Yes.
Peter Taylor:
12:43-12:51
... where, where people can be more succe- more open to having these talks, but with people within their own language.
Ross Smith:
12:51-13:21
Yeah, it makes absolute sense. It really does because, you know, we try and translate it or, or try and get that, like you said, swim between the flags and that sort of thing across and, and it could... It, it's misinterpreted. My wife works with multicultural women in business and she's a business coach and it's a government, uh, funded program getting anyone that's been in the country fairly new to start off business, which is fantastic working with language. I, I'll let her know about these diversity programs as well because yeah, they're all... A lot of them have got kids and families and, and it'd be great if we will spread the word and we'll get to shoot this podcast through her.
Ross Smith:
13:21-13:36
Um- Oh, it would be good. And it's, you know, it's the way you interact with people. So anyone that's, that's a new arrival, English is their se- second language, you know, I slow my speech down, I talk a bit slower, I don't shout.
Peter Taylor:
13:36-13:39
A lot of people tend to shout when-
Ross Smith:
13:36-13:39
It's funny.
Peter Taylor:
13:39-13:40
It's a weird one.
Ross Smith:
13:40-13:40
It's not funny.
Peter Taylor:
13:40-13:41
I know.
Ross Smith:
13:41-13:56
But it's weird. O- obviously, you know, I'm a former paramedic so I've dealt with lots of sick people in all, from all cultures and that, and, and I have seen people, not our guys because we were trained, girls were trained in it, but yeah, like because they foreign language, they're not deaf.
Peter Taylor:
13:56-13:56
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
13:56-13:57
You don't have to raise your voice.
Peter Taylor:
13:57-13:59
You don't have to raise your voice, that's it, yeah.
Ross Smith:
13:59-14:05
And maybe it's just, it's a built-in thing for people's brains thinking, "I've got to communicate. I've got to get it across." And then...
Peter Taylor:
14:05-14:06
And then so lift the volume up.
Ross Smith:
14:06-14:06
Lift the volume.
Peter Taylor:
14:06-14:06
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
14:06-14:13
Which is, it's like we talk, talk, um, even people that are hard of hearing or, you know, got hearing difficulties or disabilities, you don't have to yell.
Peter Taylor:
14:13-14:14
You don't have to yell.
Ross Smith:
14:14-14:16
Because they've got other forms of communication.
Peter Taylor:
14:16-14:39
Yeah, yeah. And especially when it comes to females, we, we have a lot of females, um, more female COLD members at the moment than we do male. So it's just the little things that you do. So you wouldn't offer your hand in handshake unless they offered it to you. I find the best one is the, the hand on, hand on the heart is, um, is always an appropriate acknowledge of hello.
Ross Smith:
14:39-14:40
It's probably well recognized, isn't it?
Peter Taylor:
14:40-14:41
It is, it is.
Ross Smith:
14:41-14:44
That you respect and hand on your heart sort of-
Peter Taylor:
14:41-14:44
And it's just easy.
Ross Smith:
14:44-15:31
Yeah, I've fortunate enough to have traveled the world and dealt with different cultures and it certainly makes you more savvy about, you know, different... Here's an example, and, and it's unrelated to surf life saving, but I was doing some business in China and I learned fortunately by having hosted some multicultural people in my home and, and from China that to hand a business card you use both hands and hand it with respect to someone. So, you know, you wouldn't know that unless you're taught that. And it's disrespectful just to flick a business card across the table to someone. You don't do that. So there are all those little culture things that you, you, you're greatly aware of and you're becoming more and more aware. And, and I suppose I was going to ask about some of the, you know, the biggest lessons you've learned from, from it over the years and I guess we've just spoke about them, is that right?
Peter Taylor:
15:31-15:55
We pretty well have, you know. Never, never touch, right? Um, that's a, that's a key thing and that's a key thing within training anyway, right? Always let people know what you're going to do so if you're teaching them tube rescue for me, you always talk to them and you go say, "Look, I'm going to do this. Is that okay?" Yes. You know, so they're the sort of things that you just... People just need to be aware of.
Ross Smith:
15:55-15:56
And a bit of show and tell.
Peter Taylor:
15:56-15:56
And a bit of show and tell.
Ross Smith:
15:56-15:57
Like this is what we're doing, right?
Peter Taylor:
15:57-15:57
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
15:57-15:59
I'll do it, this is how we're going to do it. Yeah.
Peter Taylor:
15:59-16:00
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Smith:
16:00-16:00
Yeah.
Peter Taylor:
16:00-16:04
So you just have to be mindful of the people's, um-
Ross Smith:
16:00-16:04
Well, their culture, their beliefs.
Peter Taylor:
16:04-16:05
... respects and their cultures.
Ross Smith:
16:05-16:05
Yeah.
Peter Taylor:
16:05-16:06
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
16:06-16:23
Oh, we all do, absolutely. Fantastic. Pete, look, I'm going to take a short break and we're going to hear some, uh, more information about our amazing training team and what sort of courses we offer. So we're back after the break and when we come back, I'd love our listeners to hear more about the Pool2Beach program. So we'll go into that in, in a few minutes.
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16:24-17:44
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Ross Smith:
17:44-17:45
Welcome back, Peter.
Peter Taylor:
17:45-17:46
Thank you.
Ross Smith:
17:46-18:01
Okay. We talked a lot about multicultural. So what's the Pool to Beach Program? It's, it's, it's grown significantly from what I understand. I think you said something like, when we spoke about this, 200-odd participants in 12 different countries up to 20 years. So can you tell me a bit about the program and why it's so successful?
Peter Taylor:
18:02-19:25
It's, um, it, it's a program that is, um, really, really good, and I'm so happy that, uh, this happened. So back in 2016, I think it was, day, uh, years are slipping by now. I'm starting to remember when things are happening but, uh, I'm pretty sure it was 2016. I was invited to do a presentation at the AusSwim State Conference and I, I did, and I had a couple of, um, people from our program came, and they spoke as well about their journey within surf life saving. What happened then was at the end of my presentation, the national CEO from Surf Life-... uh, from AusSwim was there, and we spoke, and she gave, um, West Beach a grant of $5,000, and that was to be put towards swim teachers accreditation. So we got our group of coal members, that was about half a dozen people, put them through their swim teachers accreditation, and it was all linked in with, uh, Manuel College, um, and their iSwim. So the lady there, the, the iSwim manager, Carol, we get on like a house on fire. She's such an awesome person, so knowledgeable, um, in anything and everything to do with, with swimming. And, of course, Kevin was the principal, Kevin Richardson, who's a member of our club.
Ross Smith:
19:25-19:25
Yes.
Peter Taylor:
19:25-20:29
So just prior to that I'd had, uh, Cecile Sahadi and her sister Sophia who are from the Republic of Congo, they were members of our club and, and training. I put them through a 10-week swim class over at Adelaide Aquatic Center. That money dried up and Kevin said, "Bring them here." So they started swimming at Emanuel and then we did this pref, uh, this conference, got the money. That end of that first year, Carol and I sat down and said, "How can we get their accreditation up to run whilst teaching other people about water safety?" So we developed this Pool to Beach Program where I canvassed all the different organizations and we put the word out and we set up a w- block of one week, 45-minute classes each day for kids through to adults. Uh, and then the trainee cold members for their AusSwim teachers helped in that week and gave them experience.
Ross Smith:
20:29-20:31
So fundamentally-
Peter Taylor:
20:29-20:31
So that's where it started.
Ross Smith:
20:31-20:31
Yes.
Peter Taylor:
20:31-20:32
And that was seven years ago.
Ross Smith:
20:32-20:41
That's amazing. Fundamentally, is it sort of saying, "Well, swimming in a pool is different than swimming in the ocean and here are the technique differences"? Is that where you're, is that what it's about?
Peter Taylor:
20:41-20:52
We just teach them basic water safety to start with. So you're not gonna teach anyone to swim in one week, but you can definitely teach them to tread a bit of water, float on their back.
Ross Smith:
20:52-20:52
Yes.
Peter Taylor:
20:52-21:03
Um, do a bit of hand sculling, keep themselves up, right? And there's some people that after a week swim, you know? Roll the arm over and do those things.
Ross Smith:
21:03-21:04
They do? Seriously? Wow.
Peter Taylor:
21:04-21:22
So, so it can happen. This particular year, um, I canvassed a lot of organizations and, um, we just went through the roof, yeah. Just about 210 people over, over the week. And then we go to the beach and do a, a, a day at the beach.
Ross Smith:
21:22-21:23
Day at the beach.
Peter Taylor:
21:23-21:27
As well so we can talk about the ocean side of things.
Ross Smith:
21:27-21:40
Oh, God, we could talk forever. Another amazing program. So, uh, you got the, you know, multicultural program, you got the, the Pool to Beach Program. And in recent times, you, what have you been up the, up the Riverland way, up the Murray? What, what are you doing up there?
Peter Taylor:
21:40-21:40
Oh.
Peter Taylor:
21:40-21:41
Yeah.
Peter Taylor:
21:41-22:39
So with these extra, um, contacts, um, Australian Migrant Resource Centre was one. They have got a, a, an office up at Murray Bridge and, uh, so we, I spoke to the lady who's, who runs that particular office that's new. Um, they've got a new one over at Whyalla as well. And there is one down at, um, Bordertown I believe and, and Naracoorte way. So they're on my list for next year. So the idea is we don't want people to miss out. So we've been doing, uh, heading over to the northern suburbs and doing the water safety talks. We did four with ARA, Australian Refugee Association. First two were pure water safety, the second two we did just last week, bit of water safety because it's coming towards the end, and then we finished the session with CPR. So a lot of the Afghan ladies had never done CPR but we bought mannequins and we trained them.
Ross Smith:
22:39-22:40
Oh, that's so impressive.
Peter Taylor:
22:40-22:50
And spoke to them about how to, to complete it. And Murray Bridge was just on the list, so we s- we put our... Oh, yeah, I just said, "Well, sure, I'll drive out there. I don't mind."
Ross Smith:
22:49-23:17
Absolutely. And w- and, and that's incredible because if you don't, you don't want people to miss out because of where they're geographically located. You know, further north maybe not travel to the beach as much, make an assumption, but, you know, uh, regionally sometimes they're in areas where... and there is other bodies of water which we were also concerned about. So yeah, that's great. What a, to be able to go out and reach out to, to people regionally which, I, I've been regionally myself recently doing some things and, and I think, "God, they miss out on stuff they shouldn't."
Peter Taylor:
23:17-23:18
They, they do, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ross Smith:
23:18-23:19
But they do, so that's incredible.
Peter Taylor:
23:19-23:39
I've retired so, you know, we always said that we'd never buy a little van but we ended up, we bought a little van and, and we just wanna do week trips. So I'm quite happy to go down to Naracoorte, spend a, a few hours talking about water safety and then head to the wine region or something like that, you know? So-
Ross Smith:
23:39-23:40
Yeah, yeah. Make a trip of it.
Peter Taylor:
23:40-23:45
So, so we can combine-
Ross Smith:
23:40-23:45
Combine a bit of leisure with-
Peter Taylor:
23:40-23:45
Combine a bit of, bit of leisure with, with, um, education.
Ross Smith:
23:45-23:46
With your message, yeah.
Peter Taylor:
23:46-23:47
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
23:47-24:03
So I suppose looking ahead, have you got any, what are the, I suppose going back to diversity and inclusi- inclusivity, um, what are the sort of, uh, you know, any goals for that in the future? Any more goals? And, and if any other club or volunteers want to get involved, you know, s- get support this work, well, who would they reach out to?
Peter Taylor:
24:03-24:05
Surf Life Saving South Australia-
Ross Smith:
24:03-24:05
Just reach out to us.
Peter Taylor:
24:05-25:10
... are doing a great, great, great job, you know? They've got a dedicated cultural community team now. So any club can reach out to the team here at Surf, which would be awesome. I'm always happy to have a chat if anyone wants to, you know, give me a call. Um, they can contact me through, through our club. You know, always happy to have a bit of a chat, you know, if anyone, anyone wants to know-... and what's going on. My goals f- would be hopefully to get someone to take over for me, but, um, and yeah, that will happen because I'm, I'm getting on a little bit now. So, uh, the next one would be that we have, as I said, a range of different cultures within- Yes. ... the club at the moment. And what we're doing at the present time is doing a water safety talk presentation with slides, but translated into the, that language, so- Into various languages? So at the moment, we've done with, one with young Muslim, um, Indonesian lady, Mia. Uh, she's done it in Indonesian.
Ross Smith:
25:10-25:11
Yes.
Peter Taylor:
25:11-25:29
Um, Y- Tom, who's from, uh, China, he's already translated the PowerPoint presentation into Chinese. So I'm just waiting for the okay to make sure that this is gonna be a-all right to do. So we just didn't have done the one at the present time. But that's my next goal, is to get it done in lots of different languages.
Ross Smith:
25:29-25:30
Languages.
Peter Taylor:
25:30-25:32
You can just send them out to the organizations-
Ross Smith:
25:30-25:33
Yeah, that will make it... They could just run through it.
Peter Taylor:
25:33-25:35
They can just play it at their leisure.
Ross Smith:
25:35-25:36
That's a good start, isn't it?
Peter Taylor:
25:36-25:36
Yeah.
Ross Smith:
25:36-25:36
An absolute start.
Peter Taylor:
25:36-25:44
So that's, that's our goal. And a few of them have just started their swim teacher's course, once again, through scholarships, through Surf Life Saving-
Ross Smith:
25:37-25:44
Incredible.
Peter Taylor:
25:44-25:48
... uh, South Australia. So the more people we can get teaching-
Ross Smith:
25:45-25:48
Yes.
Peter Taylor:
25:48-25:51
... um, that, that
Ross Smith:
25:48-25:51
Particularly from multicultural backgrounds?
Peter Taylor:
25:51-25:53
Especially from multicultural backgrounds.
Ross Smith:
25:53-26:16
Peter, look, thank you. It's been amazing, and I, I'd personally like to thank you for the time and dedication to Surf Life Saving South Australia. You know, you've, you've done some amazing stuff with the community and still doing amazing things with multiculture and, and, a- and other people in the community and, and even surf lifesavers, training them up. You know, we've got future surf lifesavers out there and people that are now doing it because of you, which is fantastic. So thank you so much. Yeah, it's been a pleasure talking with you, Peter.
Peter Taylor:
26:16-26:17
Thank you very much.
Ross Smith:
26:17-27:18
Yeah. No, thank you. It, it, it's, it's, it's been a great podcast and I really enjoyed your time. So we're gonna close off now, um, because we're getting to our standard time. If, uh, anyone wants to learn more about surf lifesaving courses, or even want to learn about the multicultural side of li- surf lifesaving, go to surflifesavingsa.com.au and it has a contact page in there to contact us. Um, or give us a call on 8354 6900. Now, Peter would have noticed me getting up and grabbing my business card, because I have been guilty before of giving the wrong number out. But it's right, okay? So 8354 6900. So thank you. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe. All our episodes are free and, uh, share them amongst as many people as you possibly can. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. I certainly did talking to Peter. So I'm Ross Smith, and you've been listening to Surf Talk. Get inspired and get involved.