Life Members

Ken Ford

Ken Ford the former State Secretary, was awarded Life Membership of AUSSI NSW, the first person to be awarded this honour

Brian Hird

In recognition of Brian’s dedication to the cause of AUSSI, the Executive Committee saw fit to elect Brian Hird to the honourable status of Life Membership of the Association. Brian served as President virtually since the incorporation of the Association. The task of welding a group of 30 odd Clubs into a Corporate Body of some 1200 individual members was a rather daunting task. However, Brian applied himself 100% to the job and with true executive ability by organisation, delegation and supervision brought the Association to a stage where it operates most efficiently in all departments.

Peg Wilson

Peg Wilson joined AUSSI in 1975 not long after AUSSI was formed. She was a founding member of the first club, Tamworth, and was president of that club for 12 years. At a State Level, Peg was president of NSW AUSSI for two years in the late seventies, and together with Steven Byles, Peg spent two years setting up the National Top Ten. She also held positions as Promotions Officer, Technical Committee member, Committee member, and was National Historian from 1989. She attended National and International conferences on various occasions,

George McGilvray

George joined Warringah Masters in its infancy (1983) and was instrumental in many of its achievements. George was elected to the Committee of Masters Swimming NSW as President in November 1986 and in July 1987 relinquished that position to become Treasurer, which he held until 1996. He was awarded both the Gary Stutsel Award and the Club Administration Award during his term of office. George was a fitness fanatic and swam his way through a long and contented life picking up the odd gold, silver and bronze medal against local, interstate and international competition.

Sue Johnstone

Sue Johnstone was Branch President for 3 years, inaugural Branch Records Recorder, Technical Committee Member, Official Accreditations Course Presenter, Marshal at Swim Meets including Pan Pacs, Nationals and State Delegate to National Meetings. A member of the National Technical Committee, a member of the 1994 Steering Committee for National Accreditation. She also was accredited as a Referee.

Beryl Stenhouse

Beryl joined AUSSI Masters Swimming at its inception in 1975, when AUSSI stood for Australian Union of Senior Swimmers International. Not confining her activities to the pool, Beryl has played a major role at every level of AUSSI Masters, helping it become the organization it is today. From the late 1980s Beryl did valuable work with Masters Swimming NSW, in the dual capacity of NSW Administrator (1989–1998) and NSW Secretary (1990–1998)

Gary Stutsel

Gary has been at the heart of Masters swimming in Australia since the start. He drafted the constitutions for both Masters Swimming Australia and the NSW branch in 1975 and led the development of the sport for many. It was Gary who conceived the organisational structure of masters swimming in Australia, with a national governing body and state branches to coordinate the activities of local swimmers. There is not enough room here to list the positions he has held at branch, national and international level.

Helen Rubin

Helen joined Ryde AUSSI Masters in 1982 and energetically served on the NSW Branch Committee from 1993 to 2004, in whatever capacity has been needed. She volunteered as NSW Aerobic Recorder in 1992 and worked tostreamline the manual system. She soon realised that the scheme lent itself to computer recording and wrote the specifications for such a recording system. The system was adopted nationally in 1999, saving aerobic recorders countless hours of work. Helen is the NSW webmaster and developed the original site. Helen is a regular participant in carnivals where she not only swims, but also officiates, having gained accreditation as

Jane Noake

Shortly after starting to swim with Masters, Jane sought qualification as an official. In 1999 she qualified as a Timekeeper and Chief Timekeeper. In 2000 she added Starter, Check Starter and Marshal, and she became a Referee in 2001. In 2008 Jane served as a referee at the World Masters Swim in Perth. For many years Jane has organised and run courses for officials. In 1999 Jane joined the NSW Masters Management Committee, taking up the role of Vice President in 2000 and in 2001 was elected President of the association. In 2005 Jane stepped down to become Vice President. She held this position till 2008 when she took over again as President.

Mark Hepple

Mark joined Hills AUSSI Masters in 1996, and in 1999 was appointed Branch Computer Recorder for swim meets and Top Ten rankings.
Since that time, Mark has attended most swim meets, producing the program, inputting times and producing the results. This includes all Branch Championship meets, plus national and international meets including: 2002 National Swim, 2009 World Masters Games, 2013 National Championships – each of these involved numerous challenges, and many of the innovations have been carried forward in subsequent Nationals.