"I thought it would be pretty cool and play with other people's toys"

Neil Harrison joined the Whitfords Sea Rescue over 6 years ago as a volunteer with the idea of just helping out the community of “boaties” on a weekend afternoon.

But never in his wildest dreams did he think he would become so involved in “emergency first response”… and even attend a fatal shark attack during his first year of volunteering.

Nonetheless, he has embraced the passion of a Voluntary Marine Rescue (VMR) volunteer and has now become a fully qualified VMR 5 Skipper and regularly attends to people in need.

This very serious pastime does however have some fun moments. As he described when first joining … "I thought it would be cool playing with other people's toys", … Neil does in fact get to command and control boats that range from 12.5 Tonne workhorses to a couple of speedy, more versatile boats that can do up to 45 knots in the right conditions.

People like Neil are truely valuable members of the community and hopefully his story will inspire you.