District 16 and Beazley’s Bridge Fire Brigade are lucky to have two volunteers who not only volunteer their time to fight fires, but also educate up-and-coming brigade members.
By Sheryn Lloyd
Barry Wiseman and his right-hand man Kevin Haynes have a combined 35 years of experience. They go that extra mile to make sure the teams under their supervision have fun while learning and competing in the rural fire demonstration days.
Barry started training kids to compete in the rural fire demo days long before he had children of his own. Barry and Kevin have trained their own children from as soon as they were old enough to run and now, as young adults, their children are educating the younger volunteers coming through.
For the past four years, Barry and Kevin have taken on the training of four Stuart Mill and five Beazley’s Bridge teams, as the interest in running in CFA teams has increased. This year with the state finals being held in Wodonga, the Beazley’s Bridge/Stuart Mill dynamic duo had the best success so far.
Beazley’s Bridge A team had a day out on the Saturday with medals in five out of the six events, and they won the aggregate trophy for their divison.
On the Sunday, it was the Junior competition and this was to be an equally successful day for the two coaches and their teams.
Stuart Mill's U13 team won one event and placed in another three out of their five events, and the U16 Stuart Mill team won one event and placed second in two events and third in another.
The Stuart Mill U13s provided Barry and Kevin with their second aggregate trophy in two days, and the U16s finished third in their age group.
With the aggregate points added together for both age groups, Stuart Mill won the overall aggregate trophy for the day.
While taking photos of the winning teams, one man asked me, “Where’s Beazley’s Bridge?” After explaining to him where it was and its population, he then said, “l suppose it's right near Stuart Mill,” and l gave him the same explanation of Stuart Mill.
Stuart Mill's population is about 45 and Beazley’s Bridge is probably not quite as big. We share the same coaches, was my response.
These teams were competing against Seymour, Springhurst, Wodonga and other largely-populated towns – not bad for a couple of small towns that no one had heard of.
Such success doesn’t just happen. Time and commitment and a mutual respect between coach and student creates a fun place for kids to learn without even realising they are.
You don’t have to be a great athlete to compete, you just need to want to compete and learn. The coach will always find you suitable equipment for you to operate, and then you just need to be ready to have some fun.
It may have been 30 years in the making, but the taste of victory for these coaches was sweet.
Congratulations to these two great volunteers.
Also read Beazley's Bridge on the run.
Author: Duncan Russell