Caroline Springs RSL hosts ‘a time for communities to get together’

Front: students Addison, Inigo and Evie. Back: Scouts Hayden Pemblerton, Mebrie Mouser and veterans John Willis, Murray Lewis, Robert Matthewman and Peter Doody. (Damjan Janevski) 321781_01

Liam McNally

On Tuesday, April 25 Caroline Springs RSL are hosting a dawn service and Anzac Day event at Lake Caroline.

The day will begin with a Dawn Service at the War Memorial on Lake Street in Caroline Springs at 5.45am, followed by a $5 Gunfire Breakfast at the Westwaters hotel, and games of Two Up.

The morning service is expected to attract around 2000 people, and will feature speeches from local school students from Christ The Priest Primary and Brookside College, and the 1st Caroline Springs Scouts Group.

Caroline Springs RSL president Peter Burquest said he’d love to see as many of the community along as we can to honour the day.

“It’s a time for everybody to reflect on all the conflicts that Australians have taken part in, it’s a time for the communities to get together,” he said.

“It’s not just to honour people that died in the war, but everybody who has died since as well.

And It’s not just for servicepeople, we have Anzac Day everyday, we’re always thinking about other service people, so it’s a day about inviting the community to come and reflect.”

Appeals officer Murray Lewis expressed gratitude to all the schools and businesses who have assisted the RSL in the selling of Anzac Badges and poppies since the opening of the Caroline Springs RSL in 2014.

“Also a thank you to our many volunteers who year-in-year-out who assist all RSLs with raising of welfare funds for our large veteran community, along with a special mention to the Caroline Springs Scouts who have been with us since day one, and the general public who purchase an Anzac Badges or Poppies from all our selling points,” he said.

The Sunshine RSL will also hold its annual dawn service on Anzac Day.