Friendship and comaraderie are the real rewards for SES volunteers
Published on 21 May 2025
Friendship and community: that’s what husband and wife duo Matt and Tiarne Lewis attribute to their involvement with Singleton State Emergency Service (SES).
After moving to Singleton from the Central Coast, Matt signed up as a volunteer 18 months ago and Tiarne followed suit after admitting she was “a little bit jealous” of the friendships he was making.
“I’ve always liked [the SES] … I wanted to join many years ago and just never got around to it and never did,” Matt says. “Our son is involved in Scouts and the SES had a night down here [at the SES headquarters] where they took the Scouts and showed them a few skills. Just from there I thought yeah, this is something I could definitely help with and contribute to, and I’ve got a little bit more time now. So, I joined up from there and decided to volunteer.”
The process began with a job ready induction three days after he applied—and Matt has now lost count of the number of call outs he’s been on.
“There’s definitely been some interesting jobs, including trees on houses,” he says. “One of the most memorable ones we had was a wedding at a winery that flooded, and we were running pumps in the middle of the reception. The bride and groom were very good spirited about it.”
As a more recent recruit, Tiarne went out on her first job a few weeks ago. Her training has leaned more towards land search and rescue and storm damage, but her main motivation to join was being introduced to the friends Matt was making through the organisation.
“Being part of the SES is more of an official capacity of friendship,” she says. “Joining the SES has been really good for me. I’m not a very outgoing person, but I love the friendship circle that I’m making in Singleton and just the sense of community.”
Together, the couple is being celebrated as part of the dedicated army of SES volunteers on WOW Day—or Wear Orange Wednesday—the national day held each 21 May to thank SES volunteers. While everyone in the community is encouraged to wear orange on the day, the Singleton Sundial will also be lit up in orange until 26 May.
Matt, who admits to “enjoying a challenge, I like being thrown in the deep end”, says he would absolutely recommend becoming an SES volunteer.
“One of the biggest things I’ve got out of it apart from the skills and being able to help the community is the very good group of friends and mates—there’s a very good camaraderie around it,” he says. “So, when I joined we were still relatively new to town having moved from the Central Coast, and we’ve definitely developed a really good group of friends who meet outside of the SES as well.”
Singleton Council works closely with volunteer organisations such as the SES when supporting the response to emergencies and disasters and for events such as the Singleton Emergency Services Expo.
While this Saturday’s Expo has been postponed due to the ongoing adverse weather and the deployment of emergency services in response, Council is still lighting the Sundial up orange in recognition of volunteers and encourages everyone to wear orange on WOW Day.
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