Royalty presents merit award
Paul James from Drouin has been honoured by Prince Michael of Kent for his contribution to the valuable work of the Royal Life Saving Society, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.
Paul, who is a member of the the Hampton Life Saving Club and Victorian Branch of the Society, attended the event at the Royal OverSeas League in London where 125 members of the society were presented with the Prince Michael of Kent 125th Anniversary Certificate of Merit.
His Royal Highness is the Commonwealth President of the RLSS and approved the special anniversary edition of his certificate of merit.
The award is made to individuals whose voluntary contribution and achievements have significantly impacted on the society and its work, or have represented the society in an exemplary way, in particular in the fields of sport, youth and drowning prevention.
Paul is a life member at Hampton Life Saving Club and has been involved in life saving for more than 40 years.
Paul has been president of the 900 strong member club twice, continues to voluntarily patrol the beach and has educated countless numbers of children and adults in resuscitation and life saving skills.
He has held the positions of national education director, national representative to the Australian Resuscitation Council, chaired a National Water Safety review committee, lead the rewriting of the society’s swimming and water safety manual and the lifeguarding manual and developed an oxygen resuscitator as some of his voluntary activities.
Recipients of the certificate in 2016 came from countries including the UK, Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and St Lucia.
Later that day members attended a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen and Prince Michael of Kent to mark the anniversary. The event was also attended by The Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Michael of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
Paul was accompanied by his wife Darlene James.
A volunteer organisation, The Royal Life Saving Society is dedicated to the prevention of drowning and was established in England in 1891. The RLSS has independent, self-governing branches active in 27 Commonwealth countries.