Vol 66

July 2019

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2021 Celebration - Cancelled.

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our proposed celebrations which were to be held in Melbourne to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the Air Force. I’ve had several meetings with the Air Force recently and they asked (not told) us not to go ahead as our event could be construed as being official. Our Sunday event at the Myer Music Bowl was to be a large public event, possibly televised and they were worried if something went wrong it would reflect badly on the Air Force. Understandable?

I did offer the event to them – for them to run and control, but the decision was made not to take it on - so sadly it’s off.

And as someone said, they are allowed to march in the Gay Mardi Gras in uniform - but not allowed to spend a Sunday afternoon enjoying good music in a public park.

Go figure!

But that doesn’t mean we’re dead in the water, far from it. We’re talking to the RAAFA in the ACT for permission to dedicate a plaque at the RAAF Grotto which is just inside the ACT boundary on the Goulbourn - Canberra Road. The Plaque will describe the history of The RAAF School of Radio, up until it closed at Laverton.

The Air Force has lots of plans for 2021, some of which revolve around ANZAC Day in Canberra and we’ve been invited to be a part. ANZAC Day that year falls on a Sunday so we would hold the Plaque laying ceremony on the Saturday which will leave Sunday free for those that wish to march under the Radschool Banner. We’ll get permission from the ACT ANZAC Day committee for that.

We’d hold a “Meet and Greet”, we’ll investigate a venue shortly and a farewell dinner on the Monday after ANZAC Day. Believe it or not, there is quite a lot to do and see in the ACT, one such place is the Australian War Memorial. The AWM do run guided tours and as the building is so vast and has so much material, a guided tour is probably the best way to go. Once we firm up numbers we’ll approach the AWM and organise something. There will probably be a small charge for guided tours but we’re chasing sponsorship so hopefully most of the events planned for the Celebration will be free.

More on this later.

DVA Brisbane.

In January this year DVA Queensland’s State Office in Brisbane moved from its previous address at 259 Queen Street, to 480 Queen Street, Brisbane.

Although the new address is 480 Queens St, it’s a bit confusing as you enter the building from Adelaide St, The easiest way to get there is come by train, get out at Central, cross Anzac Square to Adelaide St, turn left, walk towards the Story Bridge end of Adelaide St, then once you cross Wharf St it’s on your right hand side.

The new offices of DVA are on the 6^th floor. All the existing contact telephone and fax numbers will stay the same.

Veterans and their families visiting the new office will find better amenities in a more modern building at 480 Queen Street. There are cafes and restaurants on site. The mailing address remains the same: GPO Box 9998, Brisbane, Queensland 4001. All mail for the department should be sent to this address, irrespective of the state in which the intended recipient is based.

DVA’s general inquiries telephone number is 1800 555 254. The fax number for the Queensland State Office is (07) 3223 8304.

Buying a new car?

If you’re a Radschool member and contemplating buying a new car, we could save you thousands. The Radschool Association has done a deal with Australia’s biggest car brokers whereby you can purchase a car (your choice of make, colour, specs etc) at fleet discount prices.

One of our blokes made use of this facility recently and bought a Toyota Rav4 and saved thousands. You can too!

To see further details, go to the Radschool Assoc home page (HERE) then click on “New Car Purchase”.

Discounts.

Current financial members can now receive a 12% discount on the base rate of the day when hiring a car from Thrifty. If you’re thinking of hiring a car or an SUV or a people mover, this could save you heaps. If you’re a member, send us an email HERE and we’ll send you the promo code.

Savings for veterans.

Once (If ??)  the Proof of Service Card – or Veterans’ Card as it will be called, is implemented, major corporations will be encouraged to offer special services and/or discounts to holders. Businesses will be encouraged to offer discounts on everything from groceries to power bills.

The details of the card will be worked through with state and territory governments and businesses. It will be separate to the Department of Veterans' Affairs health cards but will be similar to the approach adopted by Canada and the US. Already Woolworths, Coles, Kmart, Bunnings, Target, NRMA and Clubs Australia have signed up, while Westpac has expressed support for the idea. The reported percentages where between 5 and 10 per cent.

At present, many businesses and services find it hard to identify who is a veteran, with the problem most acute in states such as NSW and Queensland, each of which are home to more than 80,000 veterans.

Membership.

We’ve decided to go with the following membership.

·                Full membership for $35.00 to 30 June 2021.

There’s no more annual Membership, only full Membership which will expire on the 30 June 2021.  As we’ve said, full membership is not compulsory, you can still receive the RAM which will remain open, free and available on the net.

So, if you’d like to contribute and help us with the ever increasing costs, please join as a full member.

If you are already a member (ie: if your name is on this LIST), please fill in the form below and send it to us, if you haven’t already joined (if you're not on the list), please use the form HERE.

BSB: 124-021       Account number: 1048 7401      Title:  RAAF Radschool Association.

Bank:  Bank of Queensland.

and include your name in the "Remarks" window on the deposit.

You can of course pay more if you wish!!

AND!!  If you work for or know of a firm that would be kind and generous enough to sponsor the Radschool Association, please get in touch.

Reunions.

If you're having a reunion and you would like us to cover it and publish it, let us know and we'll see what can be done.

Errors

Our aim is to have this site error free – but that’s probably impossible. But with your help I reckon we can get pretty close. If you see any errors, be they punctuation, spelling, links that don’t work, facts wrong etc, (no matter how small) please let us know so we can fix them.

You can download the full magazine in PDF format HERE.

It is a very large file, contains 304 pages and will take a while to download.

The margins have been set so you can print on both sides of the page.

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