Do you have a voice for radio?

I’ve been introduced and get along nicely with kids, cats, dogs, stock animals. My ideal family would be those who can give me the lifelong love and care I need to thrive.

I have mastered toilet training, crate training, commands, and on-lead walking.

To nd out more, message the RRR Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ RRRCanine/ ey are the voice of comfort, reassurance and hope in a crisis. ey are the Coastguard Communications East radio operators – the crucial link between boaties and the brave Coastguard rescue crews, which go to sea in all weathers and circumstances to save those in peril. Without the radio operators rescues wouldn’t happen, lives could be lost. But it’s not always life and death. e radio operators are also the rst and main point of call for boaties just having di culties – whether it be a at battery or they’ve run out of gas. ey are Coastguard Communications East voices like Jill ‘Mindy’ Sweeney. “I joined Coastguard because I wanted to save lives,” says Mindy. She was manning the centre on a cold, blustery, wet morning this week. Only 13 boaties had reported in. But it could be hundreds during summer, because the centre covers the coastline from the top of the Coromandel, round East Cape to Hawke’s Bay, from Kaikoura to Dunedin as well as the southern lakes. A big area, a lot of boats.

Want to help

For few hours a day some Bay of Plenty coastguard units run their own service for their communities. “I want to help others avoid losing a family member.

“And I am proud to be part of a national team saving lives at sea.”

Mindy’s voice is just one of 20 manning the radio at the communication centre in Nikau Crescent at the Mount. Not everyone is going to call in with an emergency or a problem. “Most will call to give a trip report, say where they’re headed and how long they might be; and, then later, advise they are safely home.

“All happy days.”

Now they’re holding a recruitment drive – they need many more voices in readiness for summer – people with communication skills, common sense and a desire to help others. “Everything else can be learnt,” says Mindy. So they’re holding an open day on Saturday, June 17, from 10am-2pm.

If you have a voice for radio and want to be part of a team saving lives, meet the Coastguard Communications East team, look around the unit base, and hear from volunteers of their experience and what it entails. As a volunteer radio operator you’ll be part of the national communications team, the main point of contact for boaties and rescue crews.

All training is provided free and Coastguard NZ quali cations – VHF radio operator and day skipper can be obtained free. No experience is needed. Call Jill (Mindy) on: 021 743 815 to book a time to visit.

Bars

When e Sun is talking to Jill she’s monitoring TV images of the Bowentown and Whakatane bars.

“I don’t know a bar around New Zealand that hasn’t claimed a life. ey are very unpredictable and change, so that’s a lot of our work.” en sometimes, not often, it’s the big emergency. “It depends on how they cope with stress. Sometimes we might get the awful: ‘Help, help! We’re sinking and then nothing else.” at’s when the calm, collected, trained-up volunteer kicks into gear.

“We need to determine exactly where they are, how many on board and their problem. at would get a rescue underway.”