Anzac Day commemorations return in full

ANZAC Day services will return to the Bellarine later this month unencumbered by pandemic restrictions of recent years that have limited commemorations.

Ocean Grove will be the first to gather, with a 6am assembly for a 6.15am service.

Assembly for the main march is 9.30am at the Terrace, accompanied by the Geelong Pipes and Drums the parade will be led by Royal Australian Navy lieutenant Commander James Chamberlain, who’ll be travelling from HMAS Cerberus, and is the guest speaker for the Ocean Grove Park service at 10am.

In a busy day for the Geelong Pipes and Drums, the band will first be at Barwon Heads in time for an 8.30am assembly and 8.45am step-off from the corner of Bridge Road and Hitchcock Avenue.

The march to Barwon Heads Community Hall will be led by Geelong-raised and now Canberra-based Navy Captain Vaughn Rixon, who is guest speaker on day for 9am service.

Graduating from Belmont High School and joining the Navy in 1977, Captain Rixon was following in the armed forces footsteps of his father Stan Rixon, a WWII prisoner of war (POW) who after his 1945 escape from captivity in Japan, went on to found the POW association in Geelong.

“It’s the first time that I’ve been able to move interstate in a couple of years,” Captain Rixon said.

“The last few years I’ve been in country NSW, it will be nice to return to Geelong.”

Ocean Grove RSL secretary Richard Lewis is similarly pleased at the relatively unhindered commemorations this year, predicting crowds of between 500 to 1000.

“We haven’t had to do all these COVID protocols as we have in the past, no facemasks.

“We would like everyone to contribute to the Anzac appeal, supporting veteran welfare.

“It was a record in Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads for the poppy appeal last year, we’d like to see the same for the Anzac Day appeal this year.”