Lorne Edwards is the Media Coordinator for the Lifesaving Society Manitoba. Lorne joined the Lifesaving Society in 2017 following a 30 year career in broadcasting including 25 years at 680 CJOB as News Director, Talk Show Host, Anchor, and Reporter covering events such as the flood on 1997 and the Pan Am Games. He is a graduate of the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson University in Toronto. Lorne is also the Media Coordinator for the Prairie Region for the Canadian Safe Boating Council and won the Best Media Contribution to Boating Safety Award in 2017. Lorne is a hobby upholsterer and a classic and custom car enthusiast with memberships in the Fabulous 50's Ford Club of Manitoba, and the Vintage Cruisers Car Club. In his teens, Lorne was a competitive figure skater and is now Chairman of the Manitoba Grassroots Bursary Trust, a foundation that raises money to help today's figure skaters compete in this province and across the country. 
 
Ashley Kathan is a summer program consultant for the Lifesaving Society Manitoba. Ashley was born and raised in Winnipeg and attended french immersion school. She grew up spending time outdoors being active around the water and enjoys traveling with her family. Ashley moved to Swan River Manitoba this past September to pursue her career in nursing. Ashley is passionate about promoting health in all aspects of life. She hopes to work with children and adults dealing with cancer when she graduates. 

 

Rachele Molyneaux is also a summer program consultant who was born and raised six hours north of Winnipeg in the town of The Pas where she graduated high school from Margret Barbour Collegiate Institute with Honours. Her time in The Pas saw her compete at a national level in swimming while also becoming a lifeguard for the local Winton Pool. She has a great deal of experience in the field of fitness and is currently attending the University of Winnipeg to attain a bachelor in Exercise Science and to later branch off into Physiotherapy. 

 

Lorne began by letting us know about the overall purpose of the Lifesaving Society and introduced Ashley Kathan and Rachele Molyneaux as the summer program consultants who have been travelling the province this summer advocating and teaching people about water safety.

 

Rachele and Ashley then told us how the society was founded here in Manitoba in 1911 and that they train all of the provinces lifeguards. They then turned their attention to a pamphlet showing statistics of drowning in Manitoba. The low-lights of this are that drownings are predominantly males, in lakes and rivers between May and September. While the largest segment was swimming at the time, the next largest segment were simply walking, running or playing near the water. The highest risk factors are not wearing a pfd, consumption of alcohol and being alone. In children, 95% of drowning victims had supervision absent or distracted.

 

They talked about boating safety:

 

Choosing the right pfd:

 

Water safety for kids:

 

All three presenters were thanked by Iain.

 

 

 

Nancy and Peter celebrated an anniversary recently. As did Ed and Elaine. Greg's wife Linda had a birthday.

 

 

Nancy and Elaine had to pay for cell phone misdemeanors and John arrived late.

 

 

Nancy Morris had the right ticket but the wrong ball. The pot continues to grow with just three marbles still in the bag!