Club stalwart still saving lives at age 88
Councillor sworn in
Years ago they called him Mr Goodie out of respect. But now, most just call him granddad.
Bill Goodwin joined the Whiritoa Surf Club at age 50.
And now, 38 years on, he’s still patrolling Coromandel town’s beaches and lays claim to being New Zealand’s oldest lifeguard.
For Goodwin one of the best parts of being in the job so long has been seeing the children of the children he first Waikato Regional Council returned to a full complement with Barry Quayle sitting in on his first meeting. Quayle, the former National Agricultural Fieldays general manager, won a by-election for the Hamilton constituency in April. The by-election came as a result of the death of Lois Livingston last year. Quayle was the fifth highest polling candidate in the October local body elections. trained coming through the ranks.
‘‘They are a great bunch of kids and have kept me young for years now,’’ he said.
Bill, who recently starred in a TSB TV advert, is very proud of his part in making the kids he helped train to become good citizens.
‘‘Every one of the kids I trained in the 1970s and 1980s have done well in life with good jobs and happy families,’’ he said. He points out a young surfer entering the water.
‘‘That young fella went through as a nipper and up to lifeguard, he and his wife have just had twins.’’
Goodwin remembers sitting in the tower one day with a couple of the young female lifeguards - they were nattering about all and sundry.
‘‘One of them turns to me and says ‘you haven’t got any daughters have you Bill?’ When I said no they said they would adopt me as their grandad. I couldn’t have been more pleased it was like getting a medal.’’
Goodwin patrols Whiritoa Beach and does duty at Onemana Beach where he is Patron. He is a Life Member of Whiritoa and two years ago put up his hand for after hours call outs at Whangamata.
‘‘I train every week over there. We are first response for getting people off the rocks and out to the Coastguard boat as they can’t get close enough to the shore in high seas.
When he is ‘‘off-duty’’ he also likes to go pig hunting, which he says also keeps him fit. Although he doesn’t catch as many as he used to.
Goodwin loves his life and never knows what he will be asked to do next.
‘‘Being with the young ones keeps me young and all the patrols just keep me too busy to grow old.’’