My fellow members, and friends of the Association,

With Easter upon us and Anzac Day approaching I want to send my best wishes and those of the Committee, to you and your families.

Easter and ANZAC Day are times we gather as family and as an Association. This year will not allow for that, as we would normally expect and look forward to.

Following some recent conversations, my attention is turned towards those Members who may find the current situation burdensome in the extreme.

If you feel overwhelmed and have nobody to turn to as you self-isolate or deal with the necessary but difficult task of remaining disconnected from normal social interaction and don’t know who to contact, please do drop me a line or call. My number is at the end of this message.

I realise we recognise Easter in various ways, depending on our Faith, belief and personal perspectives. This year sees the most unusual Easter since the Second World War.

ANZAC Day will be no less disrupted with suspension of the Dawn Service, March and traditional lunches. What remains unchanged is the reason for the commemoration; the contribution of Australians during war, including the ultimate sacrifice by many, for what we have as our society today.

“Lest We Forget”

With the difficult times we’ve endured recently, beginning with the catastrophic bushfires and now the COVID-19 pandemic, our resilience as a Nation is being tested.

We will brace ourselves as a Nation and weather this storm like many others we’ve faced, just as our Spitfire pilots did.

Circumstances with this pandemic change daily. It may sometimes be unclear where to go for information, even though the government is doing as much as it can to communicate a huge amount of information, clearly and succinctly.

You may have this already, but here are sources of official information that may help: Federal Government COVID-19 Facebook site, updated regularly.

Travel Restrictions by State:

A summary of border restrictions is available from interstatequarantine.org.au. For the latest information you should also review your state or territory website:

Australian Capital Territory: covid19.act.gov.au
New South Wales: nsw.gov.au/covid-19
Northern Territory: coronavirus.nt.gov.au
Queensland: covid19.qld.gov.au
South Australia: covid-19.sa.gov.au
Tasmania: coronavirus.tas.gov.au
Victoria: vic.gov.au
Western Australia: wa.gov.au

I hope you’re all enjoying the articles we post each day, celebrating a representative group of our Spitfire pilots and crew, Spitfire Memorial Fellows and some specially selected articles and videos.

spitfireassociation.com/anzac_day_2020.php

Be assured your Spitfire Association Committee is thinking about ways to bring us together later in the year and commemorate our Spitfire pilots and crews. We don’t yet know when and can’t make decisions until government ease travel and social distancing restrictions, but I hope we can all gather during 2020 and enjoy a wonderful luncheon in lieu of the 25th April.

If you aren’t already a Member, I strongly encourage you to join and help us “Keep Australia Resilient”. At $35 per annum it’s very worthwhile.

Your Spitfire Association Committee and I send best wishes for a safe Easter and passage through this pandemic.

Warm regards,

Geoff
Mob: 0409 773 840