Each year the Kenmore-Moggill RSL Sub-Branch organises and participates in a number of ANZAC Day services and activities. These services and activities would not be possible without the dedication of members of the Sub-Branch and the help and assistance form a number of local groups including: the Kenmore State High School, their Band and Choir; the Laurie Young Concert Band; Moggill Girl Guides, the Kenmore Shopping Village Management, local Emergency Services and the management of RSL’s Fairview Nursing Home.
Three services were held commencing with the Dawn Service at Bellbowrie. Attendance was in excess of 3000 which was well up on previous years. The local Bellbowrie Girl Guides provided a much welcomed breakfast (sausage sizzle) following the service. A crowd of between 5000 and 6000 lined Moggill Road to cheer on a large group of marchers including veterans, members of local schools, scouts, girl guides sporting groups, bands and members of the public. The march was followed by a simple but poignant service and wreath laying ceremony at the Kenmore Cenotaph. A later Service was conducted at the RSL’s Fairview Nursing Home for residents and their families who could not attend the earlier Services.
In early afternoon the Sub-Branch sponsored the annual “Shell Green” cricket match between the Brookfield United Cricket Club and the Australian Army Cricket XI, playing for the Shell Green Trophy. The original “Shell Green” cricket match was played as a diversionary tactic during preparations for the evacuation from Gallipoli, but was abandoned after Turkish shells landed close by. The Match is dedicated to a local Kenmore High School student “Matt Hopkins” who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. The ‘Player of the Match Award’ is dedicated to ‘Corporal Matthew Hopkins’ and was presented by a member of CPL Hopkin’s family. This year the Brookfield Cricket Club out batted the Australian Army Team.