Weekly news from the Old Bar community

The students and staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming. Old Bar loves collaborating with fellow sub-branch members and Nabiac RSL is thanked for the for invitation. What a great initiative to have veterans come out to chat to our future generation.

Old Bar RSL members and auxiliary recently attended the Old Bar Public School Anzac Day service. Again the school presented an absolutely fantastic commemoration and the school leaders presented themselves and spoke beautifully.

The school and teaching staff are to be commended for inviting the Sub-branch again and the Sub-branch looks forward to having the school leaders speak at the upcoming Anzac Day service on the April 25.

OzFish Manning Chapter, the Lions Club of Old Bar and Manning Coastcare joined forces on April 1 to clean up Mud Bishops Park. They successfully collected a whopping 521 kilograms of rubbish, mostly comprised of household items that were unfortunately dumped and smaller items such as plastic wrappers, plastic bottles, glass cans and bottles, nd cups as well as two mattresses. It was a mammoth effort by the army of volunteers. (See The Manning River Times April 6 edition.)

Taylah Kirk from OzFish states, "It's easy to wonder if your efforts in cleaning up other people's rubbish really makes a difference to the overall impacts on our environment. People might also struggle to see the connection between litter clean ups and how doing so improves the overall liveability of our aquatic species living nearby.

"If all we do is clean up rubbish, that's all we'll ever do. ( Tangaroa Blue Foundation.)

"The information that was gathered from this clean up was uploaded to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database, where their aim is to stop the flow of rubbish at the source. It is also a timely reminder for us, to consider our own plastic consumption and the choices we make in our everyday lives. No change is too small, and if we each do our bit, collectively, we can make a difference."

The Lions Club commenced their clean-up activities the previous weekend at Bohnock Reserve. They used angle grinders and chainsaws to cut metal and wood into manageable sizes and hope to recycle this material.

Whilst doing this work, they met members of the community and promoted the environmental undertaking of Lions Clubs and OzFish.

Anzac Sunday will again be held this year at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Old Bar on April 23 at 11am. It is an ecumenical event and all residents of the area are welcome to attend. Veterans and those honouring their deceased veteran family members are requested to wear their medals.

The format of the service will be the regular Anglican Holy Eucharist, interwoven with the Anzac theme.

The weather held fine for the annual stations of the cross on Good Friday at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Old Bar. Attendance was down on previous years but the 14 stations were able to be erected in the grounds and Christians from many denominations joined together and shared the many readings.

This Anzac Day, Old Bar Beach RSL Sub-branch invites you to honour all who have served and sacrificed for our nation. From 1915 to today, they embodied the Anzac spirit of endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, and mateship. Join our community on Anzac Day and help keep the Anzac spirit alive.

Dawn Service

The Dawn Service is held at the Soldiers Memorial Hall at 5.30am and will consist of a small march, ceremony and wreath laying in a fenced off area.

If you require a chair, please bring one with you. Traffic will be monitored along Hall Street by the RFS and SES. Pacific Parade will be cut off at one end prior to the service and march. All homes will be able to access Pacific Parade.

Old Bar Beach RSL Sub-branch will be providing a gunfire breakfast to the public. A gold coin donation would be greatly appreciated.

Main service

The Anzac Day marchers will assemble between 11.30 and 11.45am at the entrance of Lani's on the Beach Caravan Park. The march will proceed along Ungala Road at 12pm. Those viewing the march, please line up along Ungala Road.

A full Anzac Day service will be held on the lawn behind the Taree Old Bar Surf Club (same as last year) from 12.10pm including a wreath laying ceremony.

Feel free to bring a chair or a rug to sit on and an umbrella for inclement weather (or shade). Please wear a hat and wear sun screen. Sun screen will also be available near the marquee along with bottles of water if required and is accompanied by St John's Ambulance personnel. Please remember an umbrella if there is inclement weather.

Field of Remembrance

The Field of Remembrance has grown to approximately 300 crosses. These crosses consist of names of our deceased veterans from the Old Bar and surrounding areas and names of veterans who were supplied by the public. This is a wonderful way to honour family in a personal way. Feel free to add a photo or flag to your cross. Take photos and stroll around the crosses and pay your respects. (Remember this is a memorial.) Thank you to Craft @ Old Bar who made all the beautiful poppies attached to the crosses.

Emergency vehicle display

Emergency vehicles will be on display for the public at the Main Commemoration near the skate park.

Taree Old Bar Surf Club barbecue

Support the local Surf Life Saving Club who will be operating a barbecue from 8am and again after the main service near the Surf Club.

Remember there is an Anzac Day raffle on sale at the moment as well as Anzac appeal pins and poppies. These are available from the Saturday morning meat raffle ticket sellers for the next two Saturdays. Please contact tearley@bigpond.net.au or phone 0400 679 878 for more information.

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