Australian Air Defence Artillery Association in Adelaide, South Australia | Non-profit organisation

Australian Air Defence Artillery Association

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

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25.01.2022 A YULETIDE MESSAGE FROM THE MASTER GUNNER ST JAMES’S PARK LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIR ANDREW GREGORY KBE CB DL 2020 will go down in history as a most unusual year. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many people, including members of our United Kingdom and Commonwealth Artillery Regimental communities, personal sadness, distress and difficulties; the consequences will affect people for a considerable time. And across the wider Regiment, a number of planned events and gatherings have... been either adjusted or cancelled; these have included commemorating and celebrating the actions of our forebears through the 75th anniversaries of VE-Day and then VJ-Day; commemorating the Battle of El Alamein, the full ceremonies of our respective Remembrance Parades and other, solely national events. Despite these challenges, we should all be extremely proud of the manner in which our Royal Regiments have responded. In the United Kingdom, our serving regiments, alongside normal training and meeting readiness requirements, have risen to the challenge of supporting our National Health Service as part of the on-going national campaign to supress this virus, often at personal risk to themselves and to the detriment of their family life. I have received reports that personnel from the Commonwealth Artilleries are similarly engaged. It is, to all intents and purposes, an operational campaign; all ranks have, yet again, done themselves and our Regiments proud. We are going to have to live with continuing restrictions. While there have been definite benefits for example we have been forced to adopt technology to enable more remote working, there are downsides, most notably the loss of personal contact that is such a critical element of comradeship and collective welfare. Hence, it is even more important to remember that we are ‘One Regiment’; United Kingdom and Commonwealth, Regular and Reserve, serving and retired, military personnel and families. We need to be strong together, not least by using all forms of Gunner media; I offer our own RA Association and RA Charity website (http://www.thegunners.org.uk) as examples. Please encourage all Gunners and Gunner families, young or old, to get in touch with comrades, to reminisce or just to contribute some cheerful banter. The timeless adage: ‘Once a Gunner, Always a Gunner’. holds true today as much as ever. I wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and New Year, even with the ongoing restrictions, and to a better 2021, a year in which I very much hope to be able to join the Royal Canadian Artillery and Royal Australian Artillery for milestone events in August and November. See more

21.01.2022 Good evening all, and I hope that you have had a great long weekend. Last night our committee met and we finalised details for the rebuild of our website. The aim is to make it more interactive, and easier to upload photos and comments. This process will take approximately 6 months to ensure that we get it right. As part of this work we are also going to clean up our Facebook pages. The aim is to get rid of the Liaison page, which is not used by anyone. We may have to close ...down our current page and start a completely new page. We will not close anything until we are ready to start the new page and we will give sufficient notice to ensure that we carry everyone to the new page. The aim there is also to give more access to members. As you know only administrators can put posts and pictures on the page. We would like to change that to make it more accessible. Other news is that we now have a new coin to reflect the change of title for the Regiment. This will be available for sale very shortly I hope that things are getting easier for everyone as we come out of restrictions, and hopefully it will make it easier to get together soon. We thank our sponsor for the support with our IT changes. Keep safe everyone. Ubique Mick Leckning President See more

19.01.2022 Had the honour of attending the St Barbara’s day parade at the Regiment today to present the annual AADAA excellence award. This year the award was presented to SGT Brent Burrows-Shammal. Brent is a Troop Sergeant in 111 BTY.

18.01.2022 I find myself at the end of a long week with having to inform you that I have just been informed about the passing of another one of our fellow gunners. Jack Young sadly passed away yesterday. Those of you who knew Jack would remember him as quite a character, but a damn good signaller. I know from personal experience as Jack took me under his wing in the command post when I first joined the Regiment and taught me a lot about the trade. I have no other details at the moment, but will let you know as I find out. As we all know any service will be small.

18.01.2022 Hi everyone, as another week goes by and we find ourselves still in isolation and unable to catch up with family and friends. I thought it is time again to send you all a message of unity from your association. Unfortunately our lunches have been cancelled until further notice and we won’t be able to gather for ANZAC Day this year. I can assure you that you are all on our minds and we hope that you and your family are all holding up well, and not finding life too hard in the...se strange times. The association is still here for you, and if you would like to catch up online, please send us a message and we can hook up for a chat. I have contacted some people to have a chat, and I suggest that it is something that we should all do to keep in touch and check on each other. This is specially important if you know someone who might be doing it tough at the moment. If you know someone who could do with a cheer up, and you can’t contact us, please let us know through messenger and we will look into it. I am sure that when this is over (and it will ) we can get back to catching up in person and enjoy life as before. All the best to you all until we meet again Mick Leckning See more

17.01.2022 It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all of the passing of Ian Hodgson early this morning. I know how much Ian was loved and respected by everyone who came into contact with him during their careers, and later. I will let you know of any further details as I get them. Ubique

16.01.2022 I have been thinking of a way for us to catch up on ANZAC Day on Saturday to pay our respect at dawn being that we cannot attend any dawn service. I downloaded Zoom App on my phone and tested it and can set up a meeting to start before dawn and be online with as many people who wish to join to hold a minutes silence together. We can stay online for those who wish to and catch up on news etc. This will be mostly for South Australians given the time difference, but happy for an...yone to join. If you wish to join me, please send me a message on messenger with either your phone number or email address, and I can set up the meeting. Sunrise is officially 6:48, and I propose that we start at 6:40 to give everyone a chance to say hello before dawn. If anyone wold like to set up something similar for your state, it is quite simple to do. If you want to test that your App is working, send me a message and we can set up a time to test either individually or in small groups. Hope to see you on Saturday. Mick See more

16.01.2022 MEET KEITH PAYNE VC, AM SBS will be airing a documentary about Mr Keith Payne VC, AM at 8:30 pm on 27 May 20. The documentary is dedicated to our oldest living Victoria Cross recipient.

12.01.2022 At its heart, Anzac Day is always a moment of personal reflection where we demonstrate our solemn respect for those who have served, and those who continue to s...erve in our nation’s uniforms. So how should we pay our respect to those that served in war or more recently during Operation Bushfire Assist this year? Members of 16 Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery are writing to veterans in South Australia through our local RSLs. The letters describe what ANZAC day means to our #ourpeople and aims to connect them to veterans during a time of relative isolation. We got the idea from the Veterans SA Website (https://veteranssa.sa.gov.au/anzac-day-2020-commemoration-/), which has a number of ideas for commemorating Anzac Day in 2020. One letter, by Lance Bombardier Pullen captures the idea that difficult times highlight the best of the Anzac spirit. #AnzacDay2020 #LestWeForget

11.01.2022 I find myself starting this week as I finished last week with sad news for our fraternity. I was notified this morning of the passing of Graham ( GG )Brown, who you all know was one of the most well thought of and popular member of the Regiment. Graham was very private and asked that we only let people know that he was unwell, but didn’t want details of his illness to be made public. There are no details of his funeral arrangements yet as it is Monday morning, and as we can e...xpect there are still restrictions concerning numbers attending funerals. I know that you will all join me in offering our sincere condolences to Rhonda, Jamie and Michael. We wish them well at this difficult time. It is at a time like this that we should remind ourselves that life is precious, and we should make the best of the time we have on this earth. We should look after each other and enjoy each other’s company and take time to catch up when we can. Look after yourselves, and remember that the association is here for you if you need us. Unique See more

10.01.2022 Since taking up the presidency of the Association, I have enjoyed the interaction and the team work in organising ANZAC Day marches, and last year’s reunion. Catching up with comrades to enjoy memories and a good laugh has been very rewarding, and enjoyable. With the good time there is also the bad times. The last few weeks have been just that with the loss of five past members of the Regiment. Today was a heart wrenching experience when we said farewell to one of our best. ...As reflected in the comments on Facebook in the last week Graham ( GG ) Brown was a popular, and highly respected member of our Regiment and Corps. If I can summarise the comments from so many of you, GG was a good soldier, Leader and mentor to all soldiers and officers with whom he served. He went about his business in a quiet and assuming manner, but always got the job done to the highest standard possible. Graham was too young to be taken away from us, and that made today specially hard. I hope that you had a chance to watch the service, and got your chance to reflect on your own relationship with him. My professional relationship with him was always a very positive one, and he certainly had an impact on the type of leader that I wanted to be. On a personal level, Ann and I always enjoyed GG and Rhonda’s company at social gatherings. We shared some good wine, food and laughter. Graham will be sadly missed by his family and friends, but I think that you will join me in saying that he will not be forgotten. Please take care, and when we get through this tough period we are going through at the moment we will once again catch up for a drink and a good laugh. In the mean time remember that we are here for you as an association. We may not be in a position to offer financial or material support, but in these times an ear or shoulder is as good to raise our spirits. Unique See more

08.01.2022 For those who knew him, sad to hear the passing of Barry Dixon. Dicko was 110 Battery clerk, and a good soldier. I was fortunate to have him when I was BSM, and he never let the Battery down. His sad passing is a reminder of how life is short, and the need for us to look out for each other. To everyone out there, please do not keep it to yourself if you are in a bad place and need help. We are a family and here for you, all you have to do is reach out. No one will judge you, and we care.

07.01.2022 Good evening everyone, it is with sadness that I advise you that Kev Tucker passed away on 23 April 2020. Kev was the RQMS at 16 AD Regt in the 80’s but I don’t know the exact dates. If anyone can help please let me know so that I can pass it on to be included in his obituary. For those who knew Kev, like me you will remember his dry sense of humour. I have good memories of serving with him at the Regiment and the School of Arty. Unique

06.01.2022 From Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE CB Artillery House Royal Artillery Barracks Larkhill...Continue reading

06.01.2022 ANZAC DAY 2020 I have successfully tested a meeting using Zoom for Saturday morning for anyone who wishes to join us to pay our respect at 0600 South Australian time. I will schedule the start for 0550. If you would like to join us, please download Zoom for your phone and join. Let me know how you want me to send you the link and password for the meeting and I will send it to you.

05.01.2022 A very good morning to you all on this very different and strange ANZAC Day morning. I trust that you all had an opportunity to light up the morning with family and neighbours. Although we cannot gather to march together and share a drink as we normally do on this most significant day in our lives, I am sure we will all reflect on the service and sacrifice made by so many Australians. A special thought also for the men and women who are deployed around the world. Whatever you are doing for the rest of the day, enjoy your day and stay safe. Mick Leckning President

04.01.2022 Hi all, well it is obvious that we cannot hold our monthly lunch as the restrictions make it impossible and we should also all be heading the warnings and keeping to ourselves. All we can do now is batten down and wait until we get to the other side of this crisis and then get life back together. We are still here for you and don’t hesitate keep in touch and if you need to talk please call, or use the messenger app to arrange a virtual meeting. Stay safe one and all

04.01.2022 Hi everyone, Christmas is approaching quickly and I am looking at booking in for a Lunch in early December before people disperse and get ready for the full onslaught of Christmas. I am thinking of the same place as it is in the city and allows for easy access from North and South. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know and we can have a look at it. I want to make a booking on Friday of this week before pubs get booked out.

04.01.2022 Some time ago I informed that we were working to improve our website and make changes to the Facebook page to make it more user friendly. One major change was to allow people to post on the page, share photos, and use the site to catch up with each other. We have completed the first part of this project which is the Facebook page as it was the easiest to do. We could not change the settings which were placed on the original page, so we have had to start a new page from scratc...h. It was also suggested that we change the name to a more informal one which we would all recognise. We now have a page called Cloud Punchers active. We invite you to go to the page and join us. Feel free to interact on the page, and share thoughts and photos. I would like to remind everyone that this is a social page, and ask that you refrain from posting articles of political or inappropriate in nature. Any such articles or posts will be removed from the page by members administering the page. The website has proved to be extremely difficult and we are still trying to work out the best way forward. We will let you know once we can move forward. I hope to see you all on the Cloud Punchers page soon. See more

03.01.2022 Hi folks, I have just heard from Rhonda about Graham’s funeral which is to be held on Monday May 18 at 2Pm. Below is a link for you all to watch the service either at the time of his service or at a later time. As discussed before current restrictions mean that attendance is by invitation. I have been given the honour of attending in part to represent the association and those of you who would have loved to attend. I will be passing on to Rhonda your messages posted on Facebook to let the family know how high in esteem we held Graham. Graham was a good soldier, leader and mentor. He will be sadly missed.

02.01.2022 I am sure that I am the only one in the world who would like to press the delete button if it would only get rid of 2020. However this is not possible, so we can only look forward, and stay positive that 2021 will bring change and help us all get back to life as knew it. Apart from Covid19, we have been saddened by the passing of some friends this year. Although we miss them, I urge you to remember them for the contribution they made to our nation, and the friendship they bro...ught and the many happy moments we shared. For those who are not travelling too well at present, we have you in our thoughts and prayers. We wish you a speedy recovery. The association is here if you need us. We are Hopeful that we will be able to organise another chance to come together and have a drink or two to celebrate together. On behalf of the committe, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. I hope that you are able to spend this very special time of the year with the ones you love. Ubique See more