Andy Edmunds' lifelong dedication to lifesavers

Now, at 37, he has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours with an Emergency Services Medal.

"It was a nice little surprise, I didn't expect it at all, you don't go into Surf Life Saving for these sorts of things," he said, finding out through email on the eve of a development camp in Pambula.

At the forefront of emergency services operations at state, branch and local club levels during his voluntary career, Andy dedicated more than 35 hours per week on surf lifesaving duties as club secretary, patrol captain, emergency services management and state duty officer.

Andy was also the director of the Far South Coast branch for 12 years

From coordinating operations to find closure for families during boat incidents, a shark attack, and a privately-owned helicopter crash, to helping to carry a boat across mudflats in an attempt to save a life, Andy said it's the training and comradeship that helped during these tough moments.

"The Far South Coast, nothing happens or it's a massive incident, there's no in between unfortunately.

"It's usually a beautiful part of the coast, but very remote part, and when things go wrong, it's not great," he said.

Andy contributed to the development of the business case to establish the South Coast Westpac Lifesaver helicopter, with incident data, and this helped to boost overall resources across the district.

"I was the director of lifesaving at the time, and we'd had huge numbers of drownings, and I actually put in a business case to get jetski services down the coast, Pambula and Broulee.

"That's since evolved to Bermagui, Narooma and a bunch of other places as well," he said.

"It was around the same time in the Eurobodalla, the council had looked to cut professional life guards, so we campaigned to get increased life guard services, more beaches and building up the patrol capabilities across the region."

Andy coordinated the Broulee on-call duty team as part of his emergency services operational duties, and was on-call 24/7 as the state duty officer.

He was also part of the Far South Coast and Broulee Emergency Services Call Out team for search and rescue incidents.

He's demonstrated superior dedication and commitment to Surf Life Saving NSW and its patrols and emergency services, during his 23 years of service.

Andy hoped those on the fence about volunteering would try it out.

"Volunteering to me opens up so many doors whether it's professional development or even just career wise, [so] I encourage anyone who's thinking about doing it to get involved.

"It's awesome and you get so much out of it," Andy said.

"A lot of people think you've got to be the fittest or the best, or strongest swimmer, and that couldn't be further from the truth.

"There's a role for anyone in Surf Life Saving or the SES or the RFS, anything you like, all shapes and sizes are welcome, and it all helps in the end."