Hi Team Tama

I hope everyone is having a good week and staying dry (when out of the ocean).

Can you believe this is the last profile of our Tama Women series?! It’s been quite a journey I think and it is fair to say that we have highlighted the tremendous talent we have across all our women at Tama, and I know some were a little shy but we know you are all awesome too.

Well, we are finishing on an even higher note! It is only fitting that our Woman of the Year for last year, takes the honours to finish our series. 

It is a great pleasure to introduce Lisa Bodrero, or Lisa Frenchie to many of us. I was lucky enough to be part of the same Bronzie cohort in 2020, and now she is one of my closest friends. That's the magic of Tama again.

Lisa is one of our key Comms team members, she is our club Registrar, she is a key helper for our ‘She’s a Lifesaver’ campaign, she ensures that these profiles are out every week! She was integral to our Celebration of Women in SLS weekend, she was also one of the main event organisers for our incredible Awards Night last year, she is IRB Crew and Driver in training and she will soon be one of our club trainers. I know she is highly regarded and appreciated by our Management Committee for all her hard work, energy, and time she devotes to our club. 

Aside from all of that, she is also incredibly tough, as many of you know, she is recovering from an IRB knock, but is already itching to get back in the ocean. She is also one of the most organised, structured people I know, whenever I need assistance trying to solve a problem that requires logical thinking, there is only one person to call (she usually finds it quite amusing as well!). She is a social bunny, passionate Gropers member, extremely generous with her time and a damn good friend.

So over to our Tama Woman of the Year 2021…to you, Lisa

Thank you,

Zoe - VP

Lisa :)

Hello amazing Team Tama People,

This special edition is a summary of the end of season Tama Glama 2021 Awards night. It started back in March when I was asked to chair the Awards committee, which felt such an honour, I had to say yes!

So here we go, we created a few new Whatsapp groups (!) and started planning a night that we hoped would be a success. First thing first, when are we celebrating? Well, with the club rebuild starting on 4 May we only had a few options, so the end of season weekend it is, Saturday 24 April!

Now it’s time to get the survey out and ask you to nominate club members, across 9 awards, for their contribution throughout the season. You certainly responded: 132 nominations were submitted in just 10 days, thank you!

The Awards committee (Marc Larmour P4, Lance Brooks, P5, Jemima Waddell P8 and I, Lisa Bodrero P4)  met after patrol on 10th April to review nominations.

Having awardees is one thing, but we also needed a crowd to cheer and celebrate with them. How many people can we have?, what's the Covid limit, how many functioning tables and chairs do we have… 66 people and a few “staff” working on the night, bringing us to 70, no more, no less!

Harriet, our fabulous MC for the night, sets-up tickets on Humanitix and you start buying them light hot cakes. Sold out 5 days before the event. We would have loved to host all of you but such is life post 2020.

On the day, David Murphy and his Keen Beans sous chefs: Audrey, Sammy, Paul prepared the most delicious food!

Harriet, Michelle, Ben, Guy, Arnaud and Lisa glammed up the hall for its final hoorah. Marlin compiled some of our best shots of the season for a background slideshow.

There was a red carpet, fairy lights, candle lit red and yellow table centres, the iconic cabana bar was stocked and the room was filled by happy members dressed with a touch a Glamarama and sparkles

Hi Team Tama

Welcome back, even though the season has officially finished, we still have 2 more weeks left of our ‘She’s a Lifesaver’ profiles, so grab a drink, put your feet up, and enjoy this incredible read.

Michelle, our award-winning CTO, jumped at the chance to introduce our next special Tama woman, so over to you Michele, your way with words is second to none.

 “I randomly met Nikki a few years ago when my patrol was doing proficiencies and she was there. I'd heard her name from Marilee but hadn't met her. We got chatting and she said that she would be more than happy to help out with the Bronzies by giving them a defib lesson. For those of you that don't know, Dr. Nikki Bart is a leading cardiologist and all-round amazing woman. She has delivered her incredible defib talk to most Bronzie cohorts since I've been Chief Instructor, and each and every time I am totally riveted because, in addition to being a doctor extraordinaire, she's a pretty bloody good teacher as well. In fact, she inspired one Bronzie so much that he went out and bought a defib to keep in his car... just in case. Learning how to do good CPR is one of the most important parts of the Bronze course, and she always lays out exactly why, with a new and different example from real patients each time. She also loves ocean swimming and will do some Groper swims when she can. And oh yeah, she also summited all seven highest summits on each continent with her mum. She's pretty inspiring”.

Thanks Michelle and over to the wonderful Dr. Nikki Bart…

Thanks, Zoe - VP

Nikki (right) on patrol with Caz (left)

Hi Team Tama

Welcome back after the long weekend and to our next extraordinary profile of ‘She’s a Lifesaver’.  I met our next fabulous Tama woman when subbing on Patrol 11 last season, and during some Groper swims, she is an incredibly strong swimmer. Hailing from Brisbane, studying marine science and working in the film industry, everyone you speak to about our next wonderful woman, absolutely loves her. She joined us on Rainbow Beaches day and our Celebration of Women in SLSC Weekend, yes, it is our own Steph Atkinson. 

Jesse Price, PC for patrol 11 (with Sandra Fox), when approached for his thoughts, was very pleased to be able to contribute, 

“Steph and I graduated our bronze course together on 18 December 2018 (which feels literally like a lifetime ago) and then patrolled on a very small Sunday afternoon patrol (6 members at some point) which meant I got to see Steph in action regularly. She loves the water and was always in it swimming or showing us her board skills were better than the rest of ours. On top of her excellent life saving skills, during patrol Steph would also regale us with excellent stories from her work in film, like the picnic blanket she was gifted by her dear friend Nicole Kidman. Steph is an all round excellent human - 5 stars - would recommend patrolling with her”.

Over to you Steph..

Thanks for reading, Zoe  - VP 

Steph prefers to be behind the camera than in front ;)