Sutton Veny Guest Book
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Thank you.
I am so pleased to see the villagers of Sutton Veny continue to maintain the Badge at Codford and participate in the Anzac Day service on 25th April.
I was posted as the Australian exchange officer at the School of Infantry from 1981 until 1983. When I first arrived, John Burrows, my predecessor, told me that one of my additional responsibilities was to maintain the 'Badge' . The first time I went out to the Badge I took the lawn mower that John had left me and it took me nearly a full day to mow the grass and pull weeds. As a result I then approached the Commanding Officer of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, who at that time were the demonstration battalion at the School of infantry. He and I came to an arrangement that each time I needed assistance he would provide me with men and in return when we had finished the work I would reward them with some beers and a bar-b-que.
On one occasion during my posting I was invited to dine with Henry Thynne, the 6th Marquess of Bath, at Longleat House to discuss the Badge. He told me that he remembered seeing Australian soldiers building the Badge in 1917 and expressed his concern that he hoped Australia would not let the Badge fall in to disrepair. I explained to him the arrangements I had put in place.
My other enduring memory of my time at Warminster are of the Anzac Day services where my wife and I would work with the local people to arrange the service including morning tea. My wife had discovered a eucalyptus (gum) tree growing in the yard of a Sutton Veny villager and was given gum tree leaves which reminded us of Australia.
At our last Anzac Day service in 1983 the villagers presented me with a glass goblet engraved with the Australian Rising Sun Badge. I still have the goblet, which as I type this message is sitting on my mantle piece,
Please pass on me very deep appreciation for all the good work the people of Sutton Veny have done and continue to do to honour our Australian men and women.
Best Regards, Graeme Mickelberg.
I was posted as the Australian exchange officer at the School of Infantry from 1981 until 1983. When I first arrived, John Burrows, my predecessor, told me that one of my additional responsibilities was to maintain the 'Badge' . The first time I went out to the Badge I took the lawn mower that John had left me and it took me nearly a full day to mow the grass and pull weeds. As a result I then approached the Commanding Officer of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, who at that time were the demonstration battalion at the School of infantry. He and I came to an arrangement that each time I needed assistance he would provide me with men and in return when we had finished the work I would reward them with some beers and a bar-b-que.
On one occasion during my posting I was invited to dine with Henry Thynne, the 6th Marquess of Bath, at Longleat House to discuss the Badge. He told me that he remembered seeing Australian soldiers building the Badge in 1917 and expressed his concern that he hoped Australia would not let the Badge fall in to disrepair. I explained to him the arrangements I had put in place.
My other enduring memory of my time at Warminster are of the Anzac Day services where my wife and I would work with the local people to arrange the service including morning tea. My wife had discovered a eucalyptus (gum) tree growing in the yard of a Sutton Veny villager and was given gum tree leaves which reminded us of Australia.
At our last Anzac Day service in 1983 the villagers presented me with a glass goblet engraved with the Australian Rising Sun Badge. I still have the goblet, which as I type this message is sitting on my mantle piece,
Please pass on me very deep appreciation for all the good work the people of Sutton Veny have done and continue to do to honour our Australian men and women.
Best Regards, Graeme Mickelberg.