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Club’s office holders and Board members

Club Patron & Office Holders

John Bagnall

Patron

John Bagnall can’t remember a time when he was not associated with the Balmoral Beach Club. The Club features in many of his earliest childhood memories. He was taught to swim in the famous Clem Morath School on the Club lawn, and then graduated to the rock pool. Since then he has always been a very active participant at the club. There are not many days that he not down at the Club for a swim. He was overall club champion seven times in the 1970s and 1980s, and athletics champion ten times during this period. He served as Club Captain from 1980 to 1985.

John likes to participate and volunteers to help with many things at the club, he is a member of the BBC Events Board and also on the Balmoral Swim committee and part of the Club a cappella choir that visits care homes in which some Club members reside.

Duncan Adams

President

Duncan’s initial introduction to the Club was when his sons did Nippers in the later 1990s and he joined the Club in 2004. Duncan is a regular swimmer in both the weekend races and during the week. Between 2105 and 2018 Duncan was a board member of the Club and in 2017 and 2018 he also acted as the Company Secretary. In 2018 Duncan joined the Board of Balmoral Beach Club Events until stepping down in 2021. Between 2018 and 2021 Duncan was also a member of the Membership Sub-Committee.

Duncan’s professional background is as a Chartered Accountant and later an Investment Banker. Most recently Duncan is an owner and operator of several businesses in the corporate accommodation sector. Duncan is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand and is graduate of the University of New England. Duncan also is on the board of SpinalCure Australia.

Patrick Thompson

Secretary

Patrick has been a Club Member since 2013 when he and Kim moved to Mosman from Lindfield, their grown up children having flown the nest. His early childhood years were at Pymble. He learned to swim first with Forbes Carlile then at the Eastwood Epping Swim Club at Dence Park.

From being driven by his mother to Dence Park through market gardens along Epping Road in the 1960s, he moved to live on the family sheep station near Goulburn in 1968. That is when his swimming became exciting as he swam with tiger snakes in the Wollondilly River. Nevertheless, perhaps because of the snakes, Patrick lost interest and became being a cricket/rugby tragic from his early teens. He concentrated on these sports to the detriment of his swimming until introduced to the delights of ocean swim races with the Maillot Jeune desperados in his mid 50s.

Covid in 2020 opened his eyes to the wonders of Balmoral. Up until then he had been swimming during the week at North Sydney Pool and only at the Club regularly on Saturdays. Once Covid hit Patrick began to swim swam every day at the Club. This evolved to swimming in the dark with the 5.45 group. That in turn led to an explosion of adventure swims which is ongoing.

It is the core values of the Club that have attracted Patrick since he joined, being its heritage from the time the Smugglers kept the Rocks Push gang at bay, to its inclusive and egalitarian ethos today.

He is currently co secretary with Dr Jessica Hudson, the brains behind the duo. Patrick’s professional background, apart from being a sports and history tragic, is as a practicing solicitor for the last 43 years. He and a colleague opened a specialist civil litigation practice in 2002.

Chris Mortensen

Club Captain

Chris has been a Club member since 2018 and swims most mornings and loves to compete in the weekly BBC swim races. As a competitive pool and surf swimmer in his teens, up until 2020 most of Chris’s swimming training was done following a black line in a pool.

Once Covid hit Chris began to swim at the Club, travelling each morning from Bilgola – some 30km away. Along with Duncan Adams he formed the 5.45am swim group – swimming in the dark in winter and now attracting other brave souls! He hasn’t been in a pool since.

It is the community of the Club that has attracted Chris since he joined. Chris’s professional background has been in the heath and medical device industry for the last 20 years.

Nicola Boustred

Treasurer

Nicky has been a member of the Club since 2009. She is a regular morning swimmer with the B-team and enjoys participating in weekly races, as well as the social aspects of the club. Nicky was a member of the finance subcommittee before becoming Treasurer of the Club. She is trained as a Chartered Accountant, is a Certified Financial Planner and currently Principal and Private Wealth Adviser at Stanford Brown Private Wealth.

Board Members

Julie Coates

Julie has been a member of the club since 2009 and is a regular swimmer. She has also been a member of the BBC Events Board at its inception in 2015. Julie is currently the Managing Director & CEO of CSR Limited. Julie enjoys getting involved and participating in Club activities and values the friendship she has with many of the members.

Alan McCartney

Alan has been a member of the Club since 2017. He is a regular morning swimmer and enjoys participating in weekly races, as well as the social aspects of the club. Alan was a member of the IT Committee and Swim for Cancer subcommittee before becoming Board member of the Club. Alan is a self-employed Management Consultant and volunteer with the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Ian Phillipps

Having grown up in a country town in Western NSW, I moved to Sydney and studied Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales. I have spent my career in the water and environmental sectors, initially in technical sales and then broader business roles. I lived in Asia and led businesses across South East Asia, India, Japan and Australia, focussing on water management, sustainability, health, hygiene, and also hazardous waste management. I have also built and operated manufacturing operations in a couple of countries. My aim is to bring a logical, problem-solving attitude and collaborative approach to supporting the BBC Board. I will leverage the excellent working relationships already established and hopefully support the Committee operationally, and from a broader business perspective.

Stephen Ryan

Stephen has been a BBC Member since 1997, involved as a Nipper age manager for six seasons from 1998 whilst his children were small and since 2014, a member of The Finance Committee. He swims year round enjoying the great friendship and bonhomie of many club members. A Chartered Accountant who lives and works locally, Stephen finds that his morning swim regardless of the weather, and afterward, a hot shower and cup of tea a great start to any day.

Liz Swinburn

I have been an member of the club for 4 years, initially introduced by Rob Angus. I have always loved the water and swimming. Originally I was more a pool swimmer I have now come to appreciate how good swimming is at Balmoral. Work wise I am an Emergency physician at RNSH. I have 3 children, one in Perth who I hope to see before 2023.