Live Learn Survive - Help Yourself - Help Others.

Honestly, we think our Dad jokes got better this week, but that might just us being optimistic ha! Make sure you take time to rest is our tip of the week and we congratulate the amazing government in Zambia that thanks to offering freed education have seen over 2 million extra children educated since 2021, how amazing is that!

Maxi has had a run of house fires call from his Fire Station, which if you are a regular listener you will know Leigh calls it the Action Station as it’s not stop, so this week we send out a reminder to make sure you make fires safe, or switch them off before you go to bed. We also send a shout out to our friend Mike Burton who 365 days ago set him self a challenge and this week he completed it, enjoy this catch up with Leigh and Maxi.

Bringing the spirit of the Olympics to the podcast this week and cheering on all the athletes with their efforts and sportsmanship but we are celebrating too! After our trip to the Maranoa region we received the best message on Friday saying they had heard 3 children go home to their families to talk about getting smoke alarms in their homes, great works kids you get the gold from us, we are SO proud of you.

Over 1000kms to Outback Queensland in 3 days to visit 6 schools in the week of World Drowning Prevention Day! Why? Because in Australia more people drown inland than they do at the beach. Our promise at Live Learn Survive was education for every child, not matter their location and what fun we had, we hope you enjoy this recap of a few days in a wonderful part of Australia making new friends.

The band is back together, Leigh is back from the UK and shares a few stories about meeting some of the very special people who supported our 42 challenge last year. This week Leigh and Maxi are about to hit the road and head out inland to South Western Queensland visiting schools along the way, donating books and meeting some amazing people doing great work in their community.  

Tommy Richardson is the lead for Open Water Safety within Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service’s Education and Engagement Department. He is a serving Firefighter and Swift Water Rescue Technician within Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service with 19 years of service, in addition to having been an active Water Safety Advocate for many Years. In the 2018 New Year’s Honours list, Tommy received his Queens Fire Service Medal for his passion and dedication in raising awareness of the dangers in and around open water throughout the UK. Tommy collaborates with many organisations across the UK, including RoSPA, RNLI, RLSS and NFCC in their aims to deliver Life Saving Water Safety Awareness, and reducing the number of incidents and fatalities that occur in and around open water.

Today we are joined by Matt Lawson of Surfing NSW and Surfers Rescue 24/7. Surfers Rescue 24/7 is a Surfing NSW aquatic safety program initiative aimed at saving lives in and out of the water through education, training and preparedness.  Surfers, who are in the water year-round from dawn to dusk are often the first responders in aquatic emergencies. With less than 5% of our beaches patrolled, we know that surfers play a vital role in saving lives and are often the unsung heroes in countless lifesaving rescues.  The Surfers Rescue 24/7 board rescue course is a two-part coarse that teaches surfers and ocean users CPR and specialised rescue techniques using their surf craft to save lives in emergencies. The rescue techniques have been developed and endorsed by NSW Professional Lifeguards, The Australian Lifeguard Service and some of the world’s most elite surfers, including World Champions Mick Fanning, Layne Beachley, Mark Richards and Kelly Slater and is supported by the NSW State Government.  

Earlier this year Mike Burton was a guest on our podcast, Leigh made a promise to visit him in Lincolnshire when she was in England, and a promise is a promise right, so today we bring Mike with Leigh direct from England!  

Mike is passionate about mental health, wakes up at 4am every day to record his motivational messages and is now a keynote speaker inspiring people to believe in themselves! Enjoy something different this week as we finally meet in person and reunite on our podcast!  

Cooper Chapman’s was a young pro surfer living an extraordinary life, yet in 2018 his youngest sister found herself struggling with the loss of two of her closest friends during her final year of school as did Cooper. How could kids in the very same town be so unhappy that they’d taken their own lives? A year later Cooper began to build the concept for ‘Good Human Factory’ in 2019 -  a mental health organisation that seeks to normalise mental health discussions and inspire the global community to think about mental health differently. Incorporating in-school and corporate workshops, a podcast, an accountability community and merchandise, the Good Human Factory has grown more rapidly since 2022 than Cooper could have imagined. “Since 2020, we’ve shared workshops with over 40,000 high school students across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania - and over 15,000 of these were last year alone. Sharing his own personal story, as he shares his own mental health journey through his surfing career, challenging audiences to connect with their values - rather than basing their self-worth on external factors. Cooper say he can’t believe the support and impact we’ve had in such a short time.”, well to be honest we can and we know you will enjoy this chat as much as we did.

Erin Pogmore has been a firefighter for 12 years, and has recently been promoted to the rank of Station Officer. Erin has a passion for rescue, and is currently a water rescue instructor with Fire and Rescue NSW. She is a member of the AUS-2 Urban Search and Rescue team, was the winner of the 2023 Rotary Emergency Service Community Awards and has been a volunteer with the NSW SES for 22 years.