You've seen them in their bright blue shirts at the Two Oceans Aquarium, showing visitors around and sharing interesting facts about the animals at the Aquarium. These are the Two Oceans Aquarium volunteers, and they are the heart and soul of our operation. On Saturday 9 September 2017 we had the privilege of welcoming new Aquarium volunteers to the fold and honouring the service of the wonderful people who have been generously giving their time and applying their passion for the ocean here over the years. Several special trophies were awarded, and the brand new Anne Roberston Award for Long Service was handed out for the first time.
Before we opened our doors to the public on Saturday morning, the volunteers in attendance enjoyed a delicious graduation breakfast in front of the Predator Exhibit, in the company of the nine new ragged-tooth sharks on display here.
Two Oceans Aquarium Visitor Services Coordinator Msa Maseko welcomed the group and thanked them for all that they do for us, and then Visitor Services Guide Leigh de Necker gave a fascinating presentation about the sharks in the newly renovated exhibit.
The delegation then moved to our conference venue, the Auditorium, where Two Oceans Aquarium CEO Michael Farquhar and Visitor Services Manager Nathalie Viljoen capped the graduates and gave service awards to the many volunteers who had either completed their training or had served for a year or more.
“It’s lovely to see young people and ‘golden oldies’ all in the same room and all giving service to the Aquarium, to their community, and to the oceans. At the end of the day, that’s why most of us are here,” said Michael. “Our volunteers have dedicated 7 222 hours to the Aquarium between April and July this year. That’s an unbelievable number and it says a huge amount about you and the amount of time you’re prepared to give, and it says a lot about the Aquarium - that people want to give that kind of time to what we do. I cannot thank you enough for this great gift.”
Claudia Richardson received the Doug Turley Volunteer of the Year trophy and Chelsea Dodo received the Doug Turley Rookie of the Year award.
A very special new award was introduced this year. The Anne Robertson Long Service Award for Two Oceans Aquarium volunteers has been established in honour of the late Anne Robertson, who was one of the Aquarium’s very first volunteers and a much loved member of our team for many, many years. Anne’s family was present on Saturday and her daughter, Dr Deborah Robertson-Andersson, who herself is a highly respected marine biologist and academic researcher, regaled the crowd with some anecdotes of Anne’s time at the Aquarium.
Once, many years ago, while giving the Predator Exhibit feed talk, Anne was asked to “keep the crowd busy” because the Aquarium divers were experiencing some technical problems and their entry into the water to feed the sharks was delayed. Despite being quite anxious about public speaking, Anne went on for 10, 20, 30 and eventually a whole 45 minutes. “For 45 minutes Mom told the crowd about every single fish, ray, and shark in the exhibit and kept them entertained. The Visitor Services staff noticed that nobody left the Aquarium for the entire 45 minutes.” Anne still holds the Aquarium’s unofficial award for the longest exhibit talk … ever.
“Mom really believed in the Aquarium and she believed in the volunteers,” Deborah said. With a bequeathment from Anne’s estate, the Robertson family has procured two beautiful ragged-tooth shark trophies sculpted by Chris Bladen. “Mom’s big thing was service, and she wanted the volunteers to be acknowledged for their service.”
The very first person to receive the Anne Robertson Long Service Award is Terri-Ann Burns, who completed her volunteer course in 1995 and has been a volunteer at the Aquarium for an amazing 22 years.
Congratulations to new and existing volunteers! We look forward to seeing you on the floor.
Level 1 volunteers - 45 volunteer hour completed over the last 12 months
- Abigail Achilles
- Sadia Alam
- Vicky Beer
- Bradley Bunton
- Lalli Coulbanis
- Shakeel Dienie
- Chelsea Dodo
- Jadon Erasmus
- Keraleigh Hodson
- Maria Kristina Ingreso
- Yaseen Jacobs
- Fungai Mawere
- Natalie Mirkin
- Chloe Obermeyer
- Joshua Overmeyer
- Tauriq Safodien
- Olivia Venter
Two years' service
- Christopher Blair Hook
- Andrea Gain
- Talia Khan
- Tracy Whitehead
Three years' service
- Casha de Vos
Four years' service
- Lamees Chikte
- Vernon Hong
- Raisa Reznikova
- Claudia Richardson
Five years' service
- Megan-Rose Francis
- Matthew Orolowitz
- Andrew Snyders (not pictured)
Six to 10 years' service
- Pruthviraj Bhana
- Marlene Davidson
- Winston Fowler
- Dedre Rooks
- Evanne Rothwell
- Terry Rothwell
Eleven-plus years' service
- Kassiem Blows
- Suzan Brouwez
- Gwen Burgess
- Teri-Anne Burns
- Charles Forcioli
- Nabewieyah Ismail
- Gulam Mahomed
- Gisela Mittendorf
- Rob Smith
Keen to volunteer?
The next volunteer training will take place January/February 2018. Applications for the course will open early November. Please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be informed of our volunteer training, and other Aquarium news.
