School’s salute to service

APRIL 30, 2015: THE Townsville Grammar Junior School at Annandale will soon be sporting an impressive new ANZAC memorial thanks to funding from the Australian Government’s Saluting Their Service grants programme.I met with school principal Noel Nethery this week to hear about their plans to honour our servicemen and women.Mr Nethery said the grant of more than $2,200 would be used for a large sandstone centrepiece topped with a plaque and badges of the Australian Army, Air Force and Navy.This will be set in a paved and grassed area around the school’s flagpole against a backdrop of a series of gardens featuring ANZAC roses and rosemary grown in Gallipoli.I believe the school’s Defence School Transition Aide Sarah Stewart was instrumental in ensuring the school applied for a Saluting Their Service grant, and I congratulate Mrs Stewart on the work she is doing at Townsville Junior Grammar.These grants are available to honour the service and sacrifice of Australia’s servicemen and women in wars, conflicts and peace operations, and what is planned here will do that in a graphic way for the students, as well as any visitors to the school.I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.You can find out more about Saluting Their Service grants at www.dva.gov.au