Narrabri RSL Club is planning to kick start the commemoration of the Anzac Centenary with a special event.
“The club will be staging ‘‘Gallipoli - a manual of trench warfare’, a dramatic play which focuses on the experiences of Australian soldiers in the trenches at Gallipoli,” said Narrabri RSL CEO Paul Gordon.
“The presentation of the play will be a special event for the community.”
The RSL club will invite school students and Legacy widows to a performance of the play during the day on Monday, March 16, and will present an evening performance that night.
The day time performance will be preceded by a briefing, aimed at the younger audience, on the historic context of Gallipoli, its significance to Australia and Australia’s role in the First World War.
At night, the RSL auditorium and restaurant will be combined to accommodate the expected audience.
“We anticipate that the club’s auditorium will be filled for this event,” said Mr Gordon.
“We will be able to seat 348 people.”
Bookings are available at the club now and are expected to sell fast.
“Money raised will go towards the cost of the new war memorial," Mr Gordon said.
“We are inviting Narrabri businesses to buy tickets for corporate tables as a way of supporting the fund raising for the memorial and also as part of the community recognition of the Centenary of Anzac.”
Tables of eight, ten and 12 will be available. Some have already been booked.
The presentation will be a major event for the RSL club.
“We plan to decorate the auditorium and its entrance in a World War One theme,” Mr Gordon said.
“We have been planning this for some time and have been assisted with contributions of items from the war era.
“And we are asking people who have World War 1 memorabilia in the family to lend it to the club for the occasion.
“All items will be carefully looked after and returned.
“People are asked to lend portrait photos of family members who served in World War 1, war medals, uniforms or artefacts from the period.
“We would like to be able to display them in a special secure area for the performance of the play."
Narrabri RSL Club’s boardroom is already home to a repository of memorabilia from the First World War through subsequent conflicts.
The material has been collected and donated over the years and relevant pieces will be used for the themed decoration of the club.
The club has committed to ensuring that the staging of the play ‘Gallipoli - a manual of trench warfare’ is a special event for the community and the club in the Anzac centenary year and support for the project has come from many quarters.
One of the supporters who is making a unique contribution is Matt Mortlock, Tamworth, the brother-in- law of Narrabri’s Dean Browne.
Matt has been creating replica weapons and artefacts fom the Gallipoli campaign.
The replicas are accurate in every detail and will provide an authentic atmosphere to the themed decorations in the club for the staging of ‘Gallipoli - a manual of trench warfare.’
Matt has made a replica Vickers machine gun and Lee Enfield .303 rifles, the standard weapons of Gallipoli.
He is re-creating signs which resonate with Australia’s Gallipoli experience - The Nek and Lone Pine.
Matt is making replica ‘jam tin bombs’ - the home made explosive missiles the Anzacs made in the trenches to hurl into the Turkish enemy’s fortifications - sometimes just metres away.
The new Narrabri war memorial will be officially dedicated at a ceremony on Sunday, March 15.
The occasion will be a community event which will be attended by the state and national presidents of the RSL.
The dedication will begin at 11am.
It is hoped there will be a large attendance at the ceremony and service.
“This will be a memorial for the community for many years to come,” said Narrabri RSL sub branch president Mr Ken Craddock.
“We hope people will share this important event.”
Construction of the new Narrabri memorial, and its dedication, has been planned to ensure that the memorial is ready as the focal point of the Narrabri community’s commemoration of the Centenary of Anzac on Anzac Day.
Narrabri RSL Club is keen to hear from people who are able to lend artefacts dating from a family member’s service in the Great War, or from other sources.
“We are calling on people to help,” said RSL CEO Paul Gordon.
“We would particularly like to borrow a uniform from the period and a Light Horse saddle,” said RSL CEO Paul Gordon.
“We would also like to borrow medals awarded to district family members of World War 1 servicemen and other memorabilia, helmets, photos, which people may have.
“All will be carefully looked after and returned.”
Please contact the RSL Club, 6792 1844 or drop into the club if you have items which can be lent to the club for the war memorial dedication - Gallipoli play period.