4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Newsletter - May 2013 Edition

7 Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company (RAAHC). http://www.artilleryhistory.org.au The RAAHC is active in all matters for guns and gunners. Our Tim Ford ( Major General Tim Ford, AO (Retd) is the Chair of the RAAHC Board of Directors. The associations aim is to “foster, maintain and promote the heritage of artillery in Australia”. The association is always on the lookout for anyone interested in helping out so if you feel inclined, either give me a call or contact the association via their web site. As you will see on the web site, I am the contact for any obituaries and I would like to see more of our departed mates listed on the site. If you would like to write an obituary for someone, run it by the family where appropriate and send it to me. There are some great examples on the web site if you need guidance. ANZAC Day in Laurieton 2013 A small but quality crowd of old boys gathered in Laurieton this year for ANZAC Day. In 2012 our BSM Syd Farrow had some of his 101 Bty mates from Malaya attend so we thought this year we would see if we could get a few HQ Bty 70/71 members together. Most of the gun batteries have some form of get together but old HQ Bty seems to miss out. On Wednesday evening a few of us gathered at Syd’s place to set the scene for the next day. Syd, as always the gracious host, opened his house to us all and even put on a plate of prawns. Swifty managed to eat most of them but there was a few left to go around. Keith Hall and wife Vi stayed at Syds, as did David and Anne Anderson. Tim Makinson turned up late and it was great to see him. Unfortunately, after the dawn service next morning, Tim received a phone call telling him his daughter had been injured in a car accident. Tim raced off to Newcastle and it was later in the day when we finally got the news that she was ok but had some minor foot injuries. Others in attendance were Peter and Beth Dobbs, Mick and Pat Long, Dave and Sandra Larter, Brian and Sandy Swift (and daughter Karen with her son Fraser), Jeff and Jackie Shields, and me with wife Susie and daughter Belinda. We all marched behind the Laurieton RSL Sub Branch and attended the local service conducted by the sub branch. We then returned to the club for a lovely lunch and treated the entire hall to a HQ Bty slide show complements of Lance Grimstone, Mick Long, Dick Bush and Gary Sharpe. Great effort by the sub branch and the club to put on lunch and drinks for $10.00 a head. I think Lance may still have a copy or two left so if you want one give him a call. After lunch, some retired to motel rooms for a quick kip and a change of clothes and then came out here to Kendall where we continued on for a few hours. I thought it was fantastic sharing the day with old mates and especially Keith and David who provided a different perspective on some of the events and personalities in the Regiment in SVN. Great to see the girls involved as well. Anne Anderson was able to give Susie some valuable advice on our garden and a couple of noxious plants that have to come out. We thought they were nice looking shrubs! Thanks Anne. Thanks also to Vi Hall for showing Susie the bird call app. I am forever looking over my shoulder now expecting to see some exotic bird! Overall, a great day. I had not seen Jeff since we caught up in WA many years ago and it has also been quite a few years – about 12 I think – since I saw Peter Dobbs and Dave Larter. Swifty is well and truely on the mend after his spate of medical issues and is back to his old self. It was great to hear of Keith and Vi Hall’s exploits in the Kimberly too. Perhaps he may put pen to paper and share some of their experiences. David and Annes Macadamia farm took a bit hit from the extreme low depression earlier in the year and like many farmers in the area they had a lot of damage to their trees etc. Oh the life on the land! Jeff had his long board strapped to the roof of the car and was spending some time at Crescent Head. Lots of stories from them all and I really look forward to more in the years to come.