Hi all. I am writing tonight from the salubrious surrounds of my motel room (salubrious?? NOT!!), having deposited my son back to his school in time to unpack and then have dinner. The kid who will not unpack his toothbrush when he comes home each holidays was dead keen to get everything unpacked and stowed away ready for school tomorrow. Ironic!
It is happy mail post tonight and look what I have to show you. This is our first Poppy quilt but this one is a bit special as Bev made the poppies and pieced them into a top and Geoff, her hubby, quilted it. Don't you wish you had a hubby who was a quilter?
For those of you who do not know, this will be used as a Fallen Warrior Quilt. It will go to the family of an Aussie Hero has lost his life whilst on duty in Afghanistan. All the other poppy blocks we have will eventually be used in the same manner.
Bev also sent me these two awesome laundry bags as well.
This one is a special one printed to commemorate the anniversary of The Kookaburra March.
"The what?" I hear you ask. Well, read on......
On Wednesday 12 January 1916 a group of 25 volunteers left the Mountain View Hotel in Tooraweenah which is a small village just off the Newell Highway about 44 km north east of Gilgandra in the central west of New South Wales. Calling themselves "The Kookaburras" the marchers spent their first night in the woolshed at Yarragrin where they were joined by more men. They marched through Mendooran, Boomley Railway Construction Camp, Cobbora, Dunedoo, Craboon, Birriwa, Tallawang, Gulgong, Mudgee, Havilah, Lue, Rylstone, Kandos, Ilford, Capertee, Cullen Bullen, Portland, Sunny Corner, Yetholme and Bathurst. By the time The Kookaburras reached Bathurst the group included 100 volunteers.
The Kookaburra march was conducted by the NSW State Recruiting Committee, with the assistance of Bill Hitchen from Gilgandra. It was led by Lieutenant Middenway and David Hugh Spring of Gulgong who was known as ‘Captain Hughie’. Local fundraising committees for the march had been organised at various centres along the route of the march. These committees made sure preparations were in hand to feed and house the marchers. During the first week of January 1916 the Army Recruiting Staff toured the Gilgandra district addressing meetings at various locations in connection with the proposed Kookaburra March.
Other marches undertaken during 1916 included
The Kangaroos from Wagga Wagga to Sydney,
The South Coast Waratahs from Nowra to Sydney,
The Wallabies from Narrabri to Newcastle and
The Dungarees from Warwick to Brisbane .
Can you imagine if recruiting marches were held these days. I am not sure that too many new recruits would be signed up.
Nearly forgot! This is what kept me awake and sane on the drive. Great story. I am only about halfway through it so am hoping there is enough left to get me home as well. Highly recommend it.
Here are e few extra poppy blocks that have arrived this week.
The first lot are from Claire W
The Second lot are from Marilyn D
Both lots are beautiful additions to the blocks we are collecting. Thanks everyone who got involved and of course you can still send some in if you are still working on any.
Till next time...............keep spreading the word and happy stitching! JMxx
No comments:
Post a Comment