It was a busy morning as Julie Isbill, founder of B&B, announced a new sponsorship arrangement with Medibank.
Medibank promotional staff handed out free muesli/yoghurt, coffee and merchandise, which as you can imagine was very popular.
So you might be asking, what does the new sponsorship arrangement mean to B&B swimmers? Apparently, Medibank are sponsoring prizes which will be distributed on a random basis to swimmers who log their swims. Now there is extra motivation to log your swims but make sure you do so soon after you complete the swim.
Here is Jules with Rainer.
Not only did Jules start the B&B swim, she has graduated with a Bachelor of Biochemistry and an MBBS. Jules has also achieved the coveted prize of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming consisting of:
- The English Channel, 33 km between France and England
- The Catalina Channel, 32.5km between Catalina Island and the Californian mainland
- Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, a 48.5km circumnavigation of Manhattan Island, New York City
(Source: Wikipedia)
400 people including 46 newbies enjoyed the swim this morning, despite the large surf. The water temp was a delightful 23.1 degrees.
Remember, when there is large surf you do not need to go out or come back in through the waves. You have the option of using stairs at Fairy Bower to enter and exit the water.
This month’s B&B dinner featured guest speakers from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science discussing Operation Crayweed. Dorset is working with SIMS to see how they can improve the biodiversity of Cabbage Bay Reserve which we swim across daily.
If you’d like further information speak to Dorset, pictured below:
http://sims.org.au/research/current-projects/restoration-of-missing-underwater-forests-in-sydney/
….
My favourite beverage for the month, turmeric spiced latte, ‘detox your body to a calmer mind’ available at the Point Cafe, hole in the wall (it’s caffeine free and I’m bringing my keep-cup!)
The A-Team, enjoying their new merchandise.
Hope you all have a fantastic day!
Meg, pictured here with my very good friend Lou.
Management notices:
Next 10km badge swim
Next 10km badge opp is on Saturday 24 February 2018
thanks to Maria Allan and Dee I had company for the 10km last week (although they had a lot of treading water while waiting for me. Thanks). i did not have my camera so have made a composite although I could not find Dee’s attendance photo; she just uses a pink dolphin
Royal Far West
Royal Far West was delighted last year with the response of B&B swimmers to their request for assistance with their activity programs. This year RFW is looking for volunteers to help with their beach games on Wednesday afternoon 3.30-5 pm They run beach volleyball, sand play, volleyball, cricket and soccer. Children are of all ages and abilities and love the help and positive attention. If you can assist with this very rewarding program, please contact Anna Bowden at annab@royalfarwest.org.au.
Help Wanted
B&B would like assistance with data entry for our mailing list. Due to the increasing number of newbies, our hard-working data entry volunteers have become seriously overworked. So if you have a computer and a spare hour each week or fortnight to enter names and emails into our database, can you please contact Ian on ugoboyo@gmail.com.
17 comments
Edwina harrison
February 17, 2018 at 1:48 pm
Glad you did a 10km , nice photos Megan 👍🐠
Kerry
February 17, 2018 at 1:48 pm
Personally, I’d rather Medibank sponsor Can Too – for several reasons – participants raise money for cancer research, they have water safety, they share the love around many beaches, and they are trying to develop programs for those less fortunate than ourselves eg refugees learn to swim and make connections via the water. How cool is that! Quite honestly, swimming in Cabbage Tree Bay is gift enough for me and I don’t need a voucher on top. Lastly, if our corporate friends revisit, perhaps they could leave the coffee behind (because we already have our ever reliable favourite coffee providers) and bring keep-cups instead 😊
Anne E
February 17, 2018 at 2:44 pm
Well said, Kerry. Thank you!
Anne
February 17, 2018 at 3:02 pm
Agree with Kerry
Ian
February 17, 2018 at 4:25 pm
Sorry, I have to disagree. B&B has helped lots of people in so many ways. Numerous swimmers have approached me and said we have change their lives. The Babe Watch kids are just one example. Not only that, every week I get Can Too people coming up to me to express their gratitude for providing this activity. Even had one today. Can Too receives massive funding, deservedly so, and our sponsorship is negligible by comparison. Their director is on a very generous salary, again deservedly so. We survive through the efforts of our fantastic group of volunteers, and we still manage to raise money for the Royal Far West. None of us receives any monetary reward for our efforts. Our only reward is seeing the happy smiling faces of swimmers exiting the water every day without fail. If a small donation from Medibank assists with that, then I am happy to call them out sponsor.
Michael S
February 17, 2018 at 4:27 pm
Totally agree Kerry. Well put.
Elizabeth
February 17, 2018 at 4:32 pm
It would be good to know what the sponsorship means and covers and what needs to be covered. I would not like the running of the group to be in peril because help was needed and I did not know. Nor for it to be changed fundamentally …
Ian
February 17, 2018 at 4:59 pm
I can assure you that nothing will change. There is nothing sinister here. We have not sold our souls. We have not sold our mailing database. The only change you will notice is that the Medibank logo will appear on the the website along with the other supporting organisations who contribute to our running costs. The added bonus is that we now have someone who supplies a random monthly prize. Good luck in the draw for February (only 11 more sleeps).
Random swimmer
February 17, 2018 at 5:14 pm
Can we have assurance that our personal details-eg email addresses, will not be used to promote Medibank? On the face of it this looks like an opportunity for bnb to be making money from selling warm leads to Medibank. And if so, where is the money going? This is a community swim not an opportunity for a corporate to positively select people who exercise and therefore likely to have a better claims profile / be more profitable.
Inge
February 17, 2018 at 5:40 pm
It is perhaps relevant that for-profit funds,like NIB, Medibank/ahm and Bupa, exist to make profits out of premiums for their investors and/or corporate owners.
Ian
February 17, 2018 at 5:44 pm
Repeat, no info will be provided to Medibank. None of our financial supporters has requested or been given any data. Why do people always see a conspiracy? Repeat, nothing will change!!
Inge
February 17, 2018 at 5:47 pm
Did you know that all private health insurance providers in Australia were structured as not-for-profit/mutual organisations until 30 years ago? Currently Australia’s largest private health insurer is Medibank with something like a 29 percent market share.
Lyndall
February 17, 2018 at 6:38 pm
Well said Kerry. Thanks.
Elizabeth X
February 18, 2018 at 2:39 am
Have I missed something here? lots of companies support worthy causes eg Harris Farm provided fruit to the swimmers in the Cole Classic and provide stuff towards Manly Life Saving Club’s bbqs that help fund the Nippers. Westpac rescue helicopter, Ronald McDonald house etc Sometimes its done as part of business’ Corporate Social Responsibility efforts & budgets. I agree their single use plastics weren’t a big hit but I am not sure why the suspicion or ingratitude. Why is it ok for Bluewater to give thousands of discounted meals or someone to give us free pink caps but not ok for Medicare to give gifts. All three are profit making? Medicares contribution may be less than Bluewater’s annual subsidy.
Elizabeth X
February 18, 2018 at 3:02 am
I think that may have still been there from Elizabeth’s blog yesterday Ed.
Inge
February 18, 2018 at 8:28 am
Good point Elizabeth but maybe the question in this case is more about the identity of the sponsor. It is not Medicare but Medibank. It is not a local business supporting a local cause but a large profit- making entity muscling for control over the private health industry. The privatisation of Medibank is a sore point to many as it seems that an unhealthy portion of private health funds premiums are not being spent on health. People are leaving private health funds in droves. It is all about the donor (and the fact that I do get a bit carried away by things at times!).
Derek
February 21, 2018 at 4:13 pm
Wow, everyone needs to chill out a bit.
big company wants to throw some money our way to be associated with a successful local organisation that aligns with its business profile.
nothing evil here, just some cheap brand recognition
Throw away I say, the more the merrier