THE Inverell RSL sub-branch is working into the wee hours this week to get everything absolutely right for the two events this Saturday commemorating the ANZAC Centenary.
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Sub-branch secretary Graeme Clinch said the gathering for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service will begin in the RSM Club foyer at 5.45am for a short service. They will proceed across to the War Memorial and Cenotaph for the remainder of the service.
Mr Clinch said the format will be very much as usual, though some of the recitation would reflect more about Gallipoli because of the Centenary.
A full breakfast afterwards will be supplied by the RSL Women’s Auxiliary with cooking by the RSM staff. The march will convene near the Inverell Town Hall at 9.45 am to cater for the extended items on the agenda. The march off will be at 10.15 sharp.
A mounted soldier will head the procession, fully dressed in World War I Light Horse regalia. He will lead a saddled horse with a Light Horseman’s boots backward, symbolising a fallen soldier.
Brian and Edward Hungerford will follow with a special banner stating ‘Lest We Forget’. Olive Hungerford created the banner, which spells out the words in over 400 poppies.
Vintage cars will follow carrying disabled servicemen and a Bushmaster four-wheel drive from Armidale. The five-person catafalque party from the Hunter River Lancers will follow.
After the troops, band, those in National Service and band is an 18-person police presence, then descendents and schools and service organisations.
“With the amount of acceptances we’ve had for the march, we’ll probably have about twice as many people as normal for the march this year, we anticipate.”
The service will begin at 10.45, and there will be a couple hundred under cover chairs for those in need. Mr Clinch said the RSL was issuing 3500 copies of a souvenir program for the program.
“We’re really encouraging the Afghani blokes this year to come along, because there are quite a few in Inverell, believe it or not,” Mr Clinch said.
He was very grateful to the Inverell Shire Council for the co-operation and all the work done to realise this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.
Any veteran who would like to request transport for the march, they need only be at the RSM Club by 9.30am on Saturday.
