Lions Service Held For The Community
On Remembrance Day in Tamborine, a service was held for the local community, hosted by the Tamborine Village Lions Club. Due to organising the event around a covid safe plan, a smaller than usual group of local residents attended.
A Welcome Address was made by Denise Brown, and a Reflection was given by Cr Jeff McConnell. The Hymn ‘Lead On Kindly Light’ was sung by the congregation and then a moving Commemorative Address was made by Tamborine’s Captain Russell Burrell, whose meaningful words captured the very essence of the reason why we were there (the following taken in part from Captain Burrell’s address):
“What a privilege and pleasure it is for me to address you today at the Tamborine Village Remembrance Day service, on the 11th day of the 11th month, 112 years after the conclusion of the First World War. …. Today we remember and pay tribute to those members of Australian society, those brave men and women, in many cases no more than mere boys and girls, who left their country at the behest of Great Britain, to partake in what they thought would be the great adventure of their time. Some great adventure… of the over 416,000 who enlisted from Australia more than 60,000 were killed, a further 156,000 wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. The rest, while returning home whole of body, came back burdened in spirit by the things they had done and seen, and the unfathomable tragedies they had witnessed. Today, fittingly, we honour them and the service they provided their nation. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the guns on the western front fell silent, and peace was called in the most harrowing and cataclysmic war the world, to that point, had ever seen, and so at 11am today we will pause for a minute silence, in memory of those who served.”
Captain Russell Burrell reflected on how this time one year ago he was in Iraq, serving alongside British, French, Canadian and United States soldiers, as well as with German, Turkish and Italian soldiers. He recalls how they paused together to reflect on the sacrifice of those who had served before them. They noted that while they have phones, Facebook and WhatsApp, and could speak to or see photos of their loved ones almost daily, the soldiers of WW1 had no such conveniences and how much harder it must have been for families left behind waiting for a letter but praying not to receive the dreaded telegram and the knock on the door from uniformed soldiers to inform them of the passing of their loved one. He also went on to talk about the animals who had served, including the 29,000 horses who carried the Australian Light Horse regiments in WW1, while making special reference to the tale of Simpson and his Donkey.
The Lowering of the Flags was made by the Tamborine Village Lions. The Last Post was played by Valentine Jones and Katelyn Wright, followed by the One Minute Silence at 11am, and then the Rouse. Wreaths were brought forward to be laid, and a Poem and a Prayer were read by Lion Phil Dietz (Pres). National Anthems for both Australian and New Zealand were played and the Hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ closed the ceremony. On this day, “we will remember them”.
