Woodburn Evans Head RSL Club

Thursday, January 24 saw a few of the Coffee Club members, namely Darryl, on the large lawn mower burning laps around the club, while Bruce Cox, Lionel Bartlett, Gary Heath, Gary Knowles, Geoff Savins, Graham Newman, Adam ‘Radar’ Henderson and myself cleaned out the shed, raked the leaves and did general maintenance duties. On a drizzly Friday, January 25, about 40 people went out to the Bombing Range to see the F-111s.One F-111 came from the west at 11.30 am and then went south and came back over the range to drop one bomb, but it was too overcast for anyone to capture it on film.

President Darryl Pobje on the big lawn mower.

At 12.30 pm it fined up enough for a second F-111 to come in from the north-east and anyone with a camera had the opportunity to get one or two photos. I was lucky enough to have captured about 10 seconds on video. Everyone had a terrific day with a barbecue and a few cold ones afterwards. Many thanks again to Flt- Lt Phil Townsend for inviting us out to the range. Phil officially took over from Flt-Lt Matt King on January 26. Matt has been posted to HQ Joint Operations, at Potts Point, and everyone in the Coffee Club wishes him well. Just a little bit of history on Flt-Lt Phil Townsend: He joined the RAAF as a navigator in 1985 and then completed a pilot course and was posted to fly the F-111s, so he has seen Evans Head from above as a pilot and navigator. Phil spent a few years in Canberra as aide de camp to the Governor-General. His most recent posting was at Sale, Victoria, instructing post-graduate courses until he ‘conned’ his posting to Evans Head with his family.

Another new posting is LAC Greg Sutak, from 77 Squadron, at Williamston. We welcome
Phil and Greg and hope their stay at Evans Head is an enjoyable one. On Wednesday, January 30, the president welcomed two new members into the club – Eric Chambers and Rod Hatcher. We also had two visitors – Wilson McClelland, of the Lismore RSL, and Lyle Martin, from Coraki Sub-branch.

It is always wonderful to see new faces at the club, enjoying the great facilities we have to offer. The Board of Directors, in its wisdom, bought a new travelling scaffold to do all those high jobs inside and outside the club. It was an asset on Thursday, February 7 when more of the boys washed and hosed the windows and balcony. Many thanks to our volunteers who turn up whenever a job has to be done. By the time The Sun comes out in March, there will have been a few of our members who have celebrated their birthdays. None more so than Pat Kempnich who was due to celebrate his 94th birthday on Tuesday, February 26.

From left, president Darryl Pobje, chef Glen Beilby and Nev Graham.

Our AGM was due to be held on the February 27 and may have got a few new faces on the committee etc. Look forward to the updates on the meeting’s outcome next month.

Last but not least, I understood Ron Follers was a former Navy cook, but he wasn’t. Ron
was a former Army cook. So, sorry, Ron, for getting it wrong in last month’s issue of The
Sun.

I must thank Donna Sales, from the Mid Richmond Neighbourhood Centre, who types and edits all my articles before passing them on to Maria Walsh. Also, a big thank-you to Roz Fischer, of the Living Museum, who sends my photos on to Maria via email.

Cheers to all, John Lenon