Lest we forget

FOLLOWING a procession from the Timboon Senior Citizens to the Soldiers Memorial, the Timboon community showed up in spades to honour Australian and New Zealand service members during an Anzac memorial service at 8am last Friday.

By wd-news

Marching in honour: A procession began the Anzac ceremony in Timboon, with hundreds following Ivan and Wendy Barlow on horseback to the memorial service commencement point as the district marked Anzac Day.

Peter Pope had been a part of organising the service with Timboon Action for many years and said it was a “very important day” and that he hoped their memorial plaque, where the wreaths were laid, could soon include names from the Second World War.

“It’s great for the community – you can see with the turnout that we’ve got here, there’s a lot of people, a lot of locals, a lot of old locals, a lot of people have come back to town for this,” he said.

“We got the plaque up a couple of years ago, so we’re now in the process of trying to get the Second World War done.

“That plaque is all First World War.

“A lot of research has to be done to make sure all the names are correct.

“That piece of limestone there, it’s the old era of Timboon because that’s how Timboon started, with the limestone, so that’s a piece of local limestone.”

Jeff Rundle, who served as guest speaker, spoke about his experience with conscription in the Vietnam War.

“It’s the first time I’ve spoken at Anzac Day,” he said.

“I think it’s marvellous to have younger people in attendance.

“I often go to Warrnambool and the dawn service and it’s a sea of faces.

“I was amazed at the amount of people that were here today.”

The flag raised for the memorial was of historical significance, provided by former State Emergency Service (SES) member John Adams.

“In 1975, I believe around that time, Civil Service, which is now called SES – the flag was presented to them from the Puckapunyal army barracks,” he said.

“It’s all a hand stitched flag, or machine stitched, but stitched together.”

After the service, volunteers from Timboon Action handed out hot drinks, Anzac biscuits and egg and bacon breakfast burgers for all in attendance, sponsored by Timboon Opportunity Shop, with Jimmy Davis from The Fat Cow manning the grill.