July 2008 Newsletter
1963 LEEUWIN J/Rs July 08 Newsletter
www.hmas-leeuwin-1963.com/index.htm
Gday and Welcome,
What a great weekend. We came together in Albury on Saturday 12 July at the Commercial Club. The agenda items are addressed in the Newsletter. The following attended Allan and Margaret Wilson, Jessie and Wendy James, David and Linda Lowe, Spook Cairns, Tom Houldsworth, Doug Wilson, Les Allan, Mike Hogan, Russ and Joy Dale, Norm and Narelle Friebe, Magoo Magnuson, Bongo DiBetta and myself. Apologies were received from Brissles Lassau, Errol Delaney, Warren French, Mal Ritchie, Ian Schubert, Bob Scharper, Hector Hart, Hoss Potter, Max Borthwick, Garry Pike, Jim Clegg, Ray Cattermole and Carl Slotboom. I would like to acknowledge the effort of all the people who travelled to Albury and thank those that forwarded their apologies.
Checkers Aldridge We unanimously extended our best wishes and speedy recovery to Checkers who is currently in the St George Hospital recovering from having part of his leg amputated. I have recently spoken to Checkers and he welcomes all calls on 0407939585.
Missing Soul For all those that have ever perused those that are listed on our deceased persons list, you would have noticed the name of Billy Bacon. In 02/03 we searched for Billy to ascertain his whereabouts. We did contact a XJR Bill Bacon and communicated with him. He was in LEEUWIN in 63, however, he was from the 5th Intake. We were informed Bill Bacon from our intake had passed on. Of course, by now, you have now realized Bill is alive and well and has told us he sees Peewee Petherick regularly. Welcome back Billy.
Dedications We are still awaiting notice on the dedication date for Dave Quinlan and Bill Vass. I am led to believe the service for both Dave and Bill will be held on the same Sunday. Thanks to Mike Hogan and Jack Davey for representing us at Bills funeral service. Bongo has volunteered to organise to coordinate the dedication for Rex Geoghegan
During the meeting I discussed the procedures and the difficulty that was experienced in getting information out of Navy when one of us passed away. A proforma is attached. Completion of this will assist us a lot in putting together the dedication ceremony.
Web Site Bongo gave Spook and myself dog watch instruction and access rights to our website. Spook is going to focus on photos. We have updated the website. We would prefer to have the site protected, if not the site total but certain pages of the website. Pages we would like to see protected are personal details pages. We are going to try and have these pages protected with a login ID. We are trying to have all Official Numbers inserted as your login ID.
There is a further plan to have a map of Australia inserted on a page. On this map, it is the intention to have all towns and cities listed which contain 63 LEEUWIN people. The town could then link to the individuals name. If you are happy to have your contact details. If you are not happy, your name will not be put on. Norm Friebe has agreed to assist us with this project.
CERBERUS JRs Barry Quigley introduced the topic (by proxy) of CERBERUS JRs being invited to our functions. This proposal was endorsed by all. Quiggs has addressed this with Ken Needham, who joined from CERBERUS in March 63. I will obtain his address and pass on our weekly orders and Newsletters.
JRTE Memorial Those that are on email have received the most recent status of the Memorial. A copy is attached for those on snail mail.
State Meetings
As advised in the most recent Newsletter Russ Dale, organised a get together of Victorians. We would like him to also include the Tasmanians. Since then Barry Quigley has indicated he will be having a washup of WA folk and intends to continue having irregular get togethers. Darby Ashton has also indicated he would like to do the same thing in Queensland. You are probably aware Ron Pope is the go to man in SA.
The Victorians will be meeting at Young and Jacksons at 1200 on Wednesday 22 October.
Those in NSW will meet at the Rockers at 1200 Friday 24 October. Additionally, we will be meeting informally on Long Tan Day on 18 August. The plan is to meet at Martin Place cenotaph for the ceremony, on completion, we will then muster at the Hero of Waterloo for lunch.
Reunion 2010 We decided to have our next reunion in Mildura on the weekend prior to the running of the Melbourne Cup in 2010. During this period there will be a Jazz Festival in Mildura. The programme will be sorted out and info will be forwarded.
Grants A discussion was held in respect of grants available to groups such as ours. Dave Lowe is investigating the possibility of receiving a Best Grant which is a grant directed towards assisting the costs of running the administration. He is also investigating the possibility of receiving a grant for the purpose of having our next reunion. Russ Dale also mentioned the possibility of obtaining a grant for soft ware.
Service Pension and Gold Card I have taken some text in isolation from the DVA website. What could it mean to you? If you have eligible service, you may be entitled to receive a Service Pension and as a consequence of that, a gold card. Check with DVA.
Service Pension
To claim for a service pension you need to:
complete the form D0503 Claim for Service Pension Part A Eligibility, or a D0504 Claim for Service Pension by a Partner, a former partner or Widow or Widower Part A Eligibility; and
complete any other forms in relation to your personal, residential and financial circumstances; and
provide us with sufficient documentation to prove your identity. Refer to Fact Sheet DVA 06: Proving your identity to DVA Proof of Identity (POI); and
provide us with your tax file number.
To apply for the service pension, contact your nearest DVA office, where an application form will be tailored to suit your circumstances. Application forms are also available from some ex-service organisations, such as the RSL. For more details on claiming service pension please refer to the form D0503/4B: About Claiming Service Pension.
Gold Card
Veterans who served with the Australian Defence Forces may be eligible for the Gold Card when granted the service pension if they:
receive service pension only and have income and assets within certain limits; or
receive any amount of service pension plus a disability pension of 50% or more of the general rate ; or
are permanently blind; or
have an impairment from one or more service related injuries or diseases that constitutes at least 30 impairment points under MRCA.
Ron Giveen, (h) 02 9971 1991
PO Box 137
Dee Why NSW 2099 (m) 0410 52 9797
Email address is: rugbyron@bigpond.com
Tom Houldsworth (h) 02 44210453
Email address is: tgh@people.net.au
Cheers
Ron
DEDICATION PROFORMA FOR GI CHAPEL SERVICE
Full Name . .
Date of Birth
Service Number .. Date Enlisted .
Date Discharged . Rank at Discharge .
DRAFTS/POSTINGS and dates if known
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LIST OF HONOURS and AWARDS
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NOK details and anyone else you would like to attend
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Please return vide electronically or snail mail