Breanna graduates from little Nipper to big hero

After saving her first life earlier this year, 13-year-old junior lifesaver Breanna Bird said she felt it was important to teach water safety so everyone could feel safe on the beach and enjoy themselves.

A member of the Secret Harbour Surf Lifesaving Club and ex-Nipper, Breanna said it was a great feeling to save a life and she used all the training she had learned over the years.

“People need to know these things because they need to be able to act if someone is in trouble and we’re not around,” she said.

“Being a volunteer organisation, it’s been good to see everybody pitch in, including our parents.”

Breanna said she hoped people would be interested in joining by seeing what they did on the job.

Fellow junior lifesaver Samantha Lowe, 14, said the most important thing people could do to keep safe over summer was to swim between the flags and, when there were no lifesavers on the beach, to swim with friends.

Samantha said swimmers should also know their capabilities before heading out.

“I have learnt surf awareness and it’s a good club to belong to where I’ve met a lot of my friends,” she said.

Both girls had started in the Secret Harbour Nippers program at the age of five and had long-term goals of becoming full-time lifesavers.

SHSLC captain Rick Lowe said there were more than 400 Nippers in the club and it was an opportunity for the children to learn life skills, make friends and look after each other.