WHEN most of his mates were doing what 13-year-olds would normally do, Greg Perry walked into the Wyong office of the State Emergency Services and Civil Defence and asked what he could do for them.

And there started a love affair with the now State Emergency Service (SES) that has seen him rack up 50 years of storm-ravaged service and handed him a life membership to the organisation.

Mr Perry, as the Hunter’s SES region controller since 2005, had the region’s collective back when the second-biggest emergency in the state’s history pushed the Pasha Bulker ashore and had all five of the region’s rivers in flood at the same time in 2007.

‘‘We just call that the 18 days in June,’’ Mr Perry said yesterday after receiving his life membership.

‘‘There was month after month after month of recovery operations, but that was big.’’

The SES received more than 19,000 requests for assistance during the storms of June  2007, only about 40 fewer than the state’s biggest operation, when hailstorms affected large parts of Sydney in 1999.

Mr Perry walked into that Wyong office in 1964 and continued as a volunteer for 38 years before starting in a paid position as the Lower Hunter controller in 2002.

He was the volunteer division controller for nine years before it became a paid position and also started up the NSW State Emergency Service Volunteers Association in 1998.

He recalled the day he sent volunteers away to help in the highly dangerous operation following the Thredbo landslide in 1997.

‘‘I still remember standing there and saying ‘make sure you look after the person next to you’,’’ he said.

‘‘You are working with fabulous staff and fabulous volunteers. The staff we have here have all come through the volunteer ranks.’’

The life membership also comes just months before Mr Perry, 63, retires from his paid position to spend more time with his wife, Barbara, their two-year-old grandson Jayden and the rest of his family.

‘‘I could spend all day with him,’’ Mr Perry said of his grandson.

But Mr Perry said he would continue on as an SES volunteer.