Mr McNeil, who has been vice-president for the past seven years, was voted in as president for the first time at the club's annual general meeting last Friday.

The former club captain is eager to continue the work of his predecessors, keep growing the club's membership and push for a new facility at its main beach home.

"The club is in a really good place and from Michael Owen to Justin (Houlihan) and now him passing the baton on to me I think we can continue to deliver and keep getting better," he said.

"We want to keep getting better and it's not a hard transition because the club is in a good place.

"I want to make it a happy place for people to come, as we have no real drama in our club, and also to keep making it a better place and hopefully in the near future we might be able to deliver a new clubhouse or do something big on the foreshore.

"We are in the midst of it (discussions) now as we have come to the time where we do need a new building and there is a bit of momentum behind the scenes with that at the moment.

"We are working towards that but it's only conversations at the moment but something could happen if we work hard."

Mr McNeil said the club had emerged from the coronavirus pandemic in a strong space and believed it could continue to grow and navigate any future challenges.

Long-time volunteers Martin O'Brien and Kristie Chiller were also awarded life memberships at last Friday's AGM.

Mr O'Brien first arrived at the club in 2004, becoming a regular face in the nipper program before gaining his bronze medallion.

He then became nipper coordinator in 2013-14 and again the next season. In the 2014-15 season he also took on the role of director of surf sports, which he has held to the present day.

"It's a real honour because there's some wonderful people who've been made life members and I'm not quite sure I stack up to what some of the others have done but I'm very humbled by the acknowledgement," Mr O'Brien said.

IN OTHER NEWS

Mrs Chiller (née Davis) joined the club in 2001 when she first moved to Warrnambool to get her bronze medallion.

She has since held a number of roles including chief instructor and a board member.

She has also been an assistant training and assessment officer for the Western Region for the past two years.

The former Heywood resident has also been a nipper age manager for the past three seasons and has been training multiple bronze medallion and advanced award courses since getting her training and assessment qualifications in 2010.

She holds her advanced awards in first aid, advanced resuscitation and IRB crew. She is an experienced trainer and assessor of first aid, advanced resuscitation, bronze medallion and surf rescue certificate awards since 2015.

Mrs Chiller, who is also a diploma level trainer and assessor, said she was shocked but honoured to receive the recognition. She said the club had a fond place in her heart and her family's.

"Originally I did my bronze to use for work and it was a bit of a selfish thing but it has evolved into me now doing it because I love the club and the community," she said.

"It's kind of evolved for me and my participation in the club has grown from there."

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