With restrictions easing this week, the Torquay RSL has ramped up its preparation for Remembrance Day.
This year the community will be able to attend Remembrance Day commemorative services in person, after COVID-19 restrictions forced RSL’s to cancel events or move them online last year.
The Torquay RSL branch will hold its service at Point Danger at the recently refurbished memorials from 10.40am.
At the service, Torquay RSL members who have died during pandemic will be named and local schoolchildren will lay a wreath for each.
“This year, the 11th of November will be a very special time for all Australians, especially the veterans of the Afghanistan war which ended this year,” Torquay RSL president Bob Tyler said.
“At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, people in towns and cities throughout Australia pause to remember the sacrifices made by so many in times of war.
“It is on Remembrance Day, above all other days, that we recall the women and men who, through personal sacrifices, contributed to the evolution and identity of our country, Australia.
“We must never forget how much we owe to them.
“People wearing the red poppy provide a sign that we are not forgetting them.”
Red poppies will start to go on sale in the coming days ahead of Remembrance Day, although sellers are still restricted because of COVID.
However poppies will be available at the Torquay Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings until Remembrance Day.
Sellers will also be on the street near supermarkets in mid Torquay and Torquay North from November 1.
Mr Tyler said money raised from the sales went towards the RSL’s welfare fund.
“We would like to see poppies being worn everywhere on Remembrance Day to show that we do remember the sacrifices made and knowing every dollar raised helps ex-service people and their families when they need,” he said.
Ash Bolt
