Another Great Sausage Sizzle

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----On Saturday, 30 March 24 our volunteer members ran another successful Sausage Sizzle at Mitre 10, Nuriootpa.

It's possibly a misnomer to call it a sausage sizzle because we also sold egg and bacon rolls that are always very popular. We also sell a variety of soft drinks. Maybe we should just call it a barbecue. Whatever, we love running them and the public is always very supportive.

Malcolm and Errol

Barossa Mitre 10 generously donates sausages sourced from Barossa Fresh, provides a barbecue setup complete with gas, tables, a tent, and space on their property on which we can operate. We obtain some of our foodstuffs from Foodland Tanunda who generously provide us with a purchase voucher.

It's an early morning for the first of our volunteers who need to load equipment from our Hut at Tanunda Recreation Park, pick up some ice and get set up. 

No sooner do we fire up the barbecue and the sweet enticing smell of sausages and bacon drift through the air and we have people lining up for breakfast.

Malcolm, Elliott,
Andrew and Dawn

This Saturday the first team of volunteers consisting of Malcolm and Errol did the cooking, Andrew ran the cash and credit card processing, and Elliott and Dawn served our customers. Other teams took over during the day.

We are very thankful for our volunteers without which our fundraising efforts wouldn't happen. We're also grateful for the businesses and members of the public who always generously support us.

Our next fundraising effort (more of our member volunteers) will occur shortly before ANZAC Day when we will sell military memorabilia outside Foodland Tanunda on 17-18 April 24. If you are in the area, please call in and see us.

Management Committee Feedback

---- We're open Good Friday from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- Here are the highlights of the last Management Committee meeting on Monday 18 March 24:

ANZAC DAY PREPARATIONS

There are literally dozens of tasks that need doing well before ANZAC Day; arranging bands, gaining council approval, deciding who will do which of the many jobs and so on. Then of course, the volunteers are busy on the day while also taking part in the march and two services.

I'm pleased to say that preparations are going well and you can expect another successful day on 25 April 24 thanks to the many volunteers and those who participate.

RECOGNITION OF MEMBERS

We discussed ways in which we can show our appreciation for those members who continue to contribute to our sub-branch's success. One suggestion was that they be issued with a name badge attachment indicating years of service eg, 5,10 etc.

Maybe a Certificate of Appreciation might be sufficient. It's a work in progress and we'll come up with a solution in the near future.

DONATION FROM FOODLAND TANUNDA

We received a $100 donation for which I expressed our appreciation for the support Foodland continues to render our sub-branch. It will be used to buy foodstuffs for the Sausage Sizzle next Saturday.

We are very fortunate that many local businesses continue to support us. Several of our members also continue to go above and beyond in generously donating food and equipment to us.

FORMALISING DUTIES OF VOLUNTEERS

We're working on formalising duties of volunteers eg, we have several members who look after catering, a few who handle our memorabilia purchases, stocktaking and sales, and others who beaver away behind the scenes. Who are they? What do they do? We want to document that so everyone knows who is doing what.

BAR SUSPENSION DURING DINNERS

Because Andrew and Craig deserve to have a meal break with the rest of us, we are bringing in a policy that the bar will be suspended during dinners. Members will need to buy their drinks before dinner and not expect service during dinner.

This will begin with the next major dinner evening on 5 April 24 which will be a spaghetti night. 

APPLICATION FOR ADVOCACY TRAINING

We've been without an advocate for some years now and are fortunate that our member Dr Jack Urlwin has indicated he is prepared to undergo the training and fill the vacancy. We couldn't wish for a better candidate. Jack has a lengthy history as a medical practitioner and is well known and respected.

The process of applying and the training are both lengthy and complex, but we've began the process and envisage a positive outcome.

LOCALISING CABINET MEMORABILIA

A majority of our display cabinet memorabilia has been donated by persons who are unknown to us. President David suggested we need to try to obtain memorabilia from members and their families whose names we can display beside the items. 

We will be writing to members soon to ask if they have any memorabilia from their military service or that of family members that we can display when we update our display cabinets.

If you are a member and have something you could donate from your collection of memorablia, please let us know.

That's it folks.

St. Patrick's Day 24

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- This year we want to get more happening at the Hut (see banner photo) located at the Tanunda Recreation Park off Bilyara Road, Tanunda.

Several of our Members

Instead of opening only on Friday evenings, we plan to have some ad hoc openings like we had today for St Patrick's Day.

This was our first "test run" called at short notice and we were pleasantly surprised that numerous of our members attended. Some rose to the occasion and had a Guinness or two for St Patrick. 

Most ad hoc days will be for military-related events such as the end of the Malaya Campaign. However, there is also room for some additional open days for significant international or national events that may be of interest to our members and visitors.

As we head into 2024 we will give you more notice of special openings of the Hut and as always, look forward to having you join us.

Issue 12 of "The Bugle" is Now Available

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- 

Issue 12 of our quarterly publication The Bugle is now available to read online or download. There is a range of topics that you can spot on this snap of page one:

If you click on the image, you should be able to increase the size making it easier to read.

However, why do that when you can click on the Newsletters tab and then click on the PDF version of the newsletter to download, print or read online?

If you do read it, and we hope you do, please give us some feedback so we know whether we're providing something of interest or wasting our time and effort.

Use the comment dialogue box below to tell us what you think.

ANZAC Poems and other Sprigs of Wattle Book

---- We have Happy Hours at our Hut most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- 

One of our members, Maurie O'Brien is a popular bush poet and author who wrote "ANZAC Poems & Other Sprigs of Wattle". 

Maurie was raised in a country town in the Mid-North of South Australia. He is well respected and admired for the strong delivery of his poetry at public events.

This collection of poems from Maurie contains many fine tributes to Australia's fellow veterans and pioneers with many humorous poetic anecdotes (see The Handbag stanza below). The collection will surely appeal to all those who respect and value the sacrifices made by Australians during the conflicts of World War I and II, whether at the front, behind the lines, or at home.

The Handbag

There are some things mysterious,

To the ordinary bloke,
Like the things your wife possesses,
About which you never joke.
Now, one of these is her handbag,
That just never leaves her side,
A deep, dark holder of secrets,
In which many things reside.

I highly recommend this 102 treasure trove of poetry and humour that is a very reasonable price and available electronically (Kindle) or in paperback. You can find it here.

If you buy a copy, I'd love to hear what you think of it. Please comment below.

Robin Henry, Editor