Norm Stevens

Revd Bill Ross OAM

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GLAD TIDINGS

NEWS FROM THE WEST COAST

NORM STEVENS & BILL ROSS RECEIVE AWARDS

Albany’s Norm Stevens and Geraldton’s Bill Ross have both received much deserved honours in recent times.

Norm, Albany’s popular ship visitor was on Australia Day awarded the Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizen Award. Norm’s long and selfless ministry to seafarers visiting day and night the port of Albany was appropriately acknowledged. Norm’s wife Jane and greatest fan and supporter, was quick to spread the news of Norm’s accolade. Jane herself has been a great friend of the seafarer and backbone of the Albany committee for many years.

On the same day, on the same coastline but one thousand kilometres north Geraldton’s chaplain Bill Ross received another remarkable honour, namely the Order of Australia. The West Australian newspaper said of the award…”Revd Ross was honoured for his service to the Anglican church and to the community of Port Hedland, while his wife Jocelyn was awarded for her service to the community, and for her teaching of children with impaired hearing. Both are perhaps even better known for their work with the Mission to Seafarers.”

We raise our glasses to Norm, Bill and Jocelyn for their dedication to the needs of others, and so spectacularly typifying the Australian spirit and the Christian life.

By Colin BrownNational Co-ordinator

Dampier’s Ian McGilvray

Fred at Esperance Port

DAMPIER’S CHAPLAIN RUNS ANOTHER SHIP VISITING COURSE IN PORT HEDLAND

ESPERANCE’S WARM WELCOME

Ian McGilvray has kindly run another ship visiting course in Port Hedland. Participating in the course were Alan and Maria Mower who have recently moved from Sydney to Hedland to manage the seafarers’ centre. Alan also acts as chaplain at the centre. We hope that they found Ian’s course of great value and wish them well in the new venture.

Port Hedland’s environment, isolation and rapidly expanding port infrastructure presents a number of challenges that we that pray Alan and Maria will enjoy tackling.

Over the past two years Ian has conducted four ship visiting courses and the MtS family is so much richer for Ian’s willingness to share his vast seafaring and ministry knowledge.

In April it was necessary for the National Coordinator to visit our Bunbury and Fremantle centres so it was inevitable that an invitation to “come down to Esperance” was made by centre manager Fred Lochowicz. After all Esperance is only a 700 kilometre drive from Fremantle just down the road!

Unfortunately Revd Frank was visiting family in Canada but Fred was there welcoming with open arms. It was a great chance to catch up with Fred on the local news- how busy the centre had been this year, the search for more volunteers and meeting the changing needs of the crews visiting Esperance.

It was touching to meet a local beekeeper who dropped into the centre with several dozen jars of delicious honey during the visit. Fred gives the honey to particular crew who swear by its nutritional and healing powers. That’s one caring MtS manager.

In Dampier’s latest monthly report it was observed that the strength of the Australian dollar is affecting the seafarers’ salaries and spending capacity when on Aussie soil. Kiwi Jim Pether has suggested that we should redirect them to NZ but we do not think that it is allowed.

However, perhaps the most challenging aspect of the visit was listening to Fred’s Bob Dylan-like harmonica playing late at night after we had shared a warm calorie-packed pizza and cool beer. Mercifully not a seafarer or bee was in sight (or hearing range).

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GLAD TIDINGS

Tim, Brig & visiting crew to Bunbury

BUNBURY COMMISSIONS A NEW CHAPLAIN

FREMANTLE MTS - A TRUE FLYING ANGEL

At the invitation of Bishop Allan Ewing the National Coordinator visited Bunbury in April. The visit was short but productive. Bishop Allan has a very good knowledge of the joys and challenges of a ministry to seafarers, and is a great supporter of our work at Bunbury Port. Both Tim and Rose Hopwood were in fine form and arranged an information night for volunteers to meet Col and listen to his presentation on the need to be ready for the MLC, and share some good news stories from around our Australian centres.

Present was Archdeacon Joe Hocking- another great supporter of the mission, and the Revd Graeme Weaver who has recently been commissioned as chaplain to the centre and port of Bunbury.

Graeme is thoroughly enjoying his work, particularly the ship visiting side of things and should be a big hit with visiting crews. He was formerly with the Australian Defence Forces. Graeme looks forward to meeting everyone at the national conference.

We all know that life at sea can be cruel and dangerous, and none more than the staff at our Fremantle Flying Angel club. Recently on one single day Dennis, Ann and Michael were attempting to cope with a series of incidents involving seafarers including, one who had been rushed to hospital with acute appendicitis, another who had just had 100 stitches sewn in his scalp following an onboard accident with a jigsaw and another in a coma in Perth hospital after being medically evacuated, suffering a stroke, from a general cargo vessel motoring for the northern hemisphere.

The first two mentioned have thankfully recovered but the stroke victim did not.

Dennis and Michael (with the crucial support

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GLAD TIDINGS

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of the ITF) moved heaven and earth to get the dying seafarers’ wife Cynthia and eldest son Ricardo from the Philippines to his bedside before he died. It was only due to Dennis’ midnight pick up of the family at Perth airport and his car dash into Perth hospital’s intensive care unit that the wife and son had a few precious hours at his bedside to say ‘good bye’ to Ricardo before he passed away just before daybreak.

The grieving wife and son (also a seafarer) stayed at the Club for some days and were comforted and assisted in a number of ways, by Dennis, Ann, Michael and the staff.

We pray for Ricardo and his family and that a planned investigation into Ricardo’s death will bring about justice and some peace for his family.

And to finish on a happier note we have included a photo of the seafarer almost scalped by a jigsaw recovery from his ordeal with some R & R at a nearby nature park in Perth.

Better to grapple with a koala than an electric saw so say the good people at MtS

GLAD TIDINGS