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Back to 1950 index or Main Index Makan – No. 40 Official Organ of 2/30th. Bn. A.I.F. Assn, Patron: Brig. F.G. Galleghan, D.S.O., O.B.E., E.D. Dear Dig, Freddie Bladwell, the Tamil from Malaya, has been working at a Sydney pub for some months after a sojourn in the city of Canberra. He is well and happy as he always was and any Thirtieth lad is always sure of good service if they see Fred behind the Bar. Saw Maj. Anderson, A. Coy., recently. He remained in the Army for a long time after we returned to Aussie and was lucky enough to secure a job as conducting officer for the voyage to Italy with repatriated Italian P.O.W's. Since his discharge, he has had a couple of business ventures but is now making a crust by selling fire fighting equipment. Andy suffers very badly with his tummy now and, as a result, does not enjoy a glass of ale at all. Must be a dreadful thing this stomach trouble. The Assn, and all the Members are delighted to hear that Ron Chipps, C. Coy., is now a Bachelor of Engineering, which is his second University degree. Ron is a very determined young fellow and has lived for the last four years on his C.R.T.S. allowance and his deferred pay. We all hope that his financial troubles are over for ever and that he will reap the reward of his studies. Laurie Mountford who lives at Leeton writes to say how much he enjoyed reading "Galleghan's Greyhounds." He is one of many who have written to us in this vein. "Monty" Montgomery was down at Wollongong recently and saw Frank Hannan and Guy Hogben, both looking well and both apparently carving out their share of happiness from life. Bruce Ford is working at Armidale at the moment doing a little relief work at the local Bank. I once read a book by Jerome K. Jerome who mentioned that he had a friend who "slept at a bank from nine to five during the week and from nine until twelve on Saturday." My numerous banking friends assure me that "things are vastly different these days! Yes sir, the hours are not as long as they used to he." Bruce met Karl Sinclair at Armidale but we have no news of Karl. Joe Roxburgh is up with the leaders again in the early payment of annual subscriptions. Dinny Lane has taken over a mixed business at Blaxcell Street, South Granville. Dinny is apparently quite a good businessman and we hope that he continues to prosper. There are quite a few of our fellows living in that district and Dinny and also Garry Evans, whose drapery shop is in the same street, keep us well posted with news. Garry has just had the 'phone installed, his number is UU1526, give him a ring and lodge an order for a dozen Terry Squares. The Association and all its Members join in congratulating Jackie Salisbury and his wife on the birth of a brand new baby boy. Both mother and child are doing well, in fact the only casualty appears to be Jackie. Phil Schofield, who has spent most of his post war years travelling around from district to district for the Bank he sleeps for, has landed a job in the city at last. His previous duties entailed the checking of samples, both notes and silver. It was an interesting job but at times was very tiring. You can imagine yourself how one would feel after biting ten thousand pounds worth of two shilling pieces, looking for the bad ones! Apart from the fatigue, just imagine the wear and tear on the teeth! I mustn't say too much about this fellow he happens to be my landlord now. Jack Brooks, A. Coy., is still working for the Railway and lives at Goulburn. He spends most of his spare time painting and repairing the outside of the house which he purchased some months ago. He only repairs the outside because the inside can wait until the tenants find another place to go to. The wives are on the job again with the prompt payment of annual subscriptions. One of the first to bob up this year is Doc. Wilson's pretty young wife, who sent in 10/- to cover the cost of two years subscriptions. You can't beat this idea of paying 10/- or more at a time. It saves all that awful business of looking for a postal note every year. A much better idea, of course, is to drop a note to Reg Ellis end ask him how much he will want from you to become a Life Member. Our Life Membership is increasing rapidly, the latest to transfer being Ian Price, of whom we have mentioned several times in the last year. Jack O'Malley sent his subs. along from Frogmore of all places, but he neglected to tell us of his more recent doings. Drop a line Jack, the lads will he interested to hear about you. Harry Griffis is still fishing for a living on the North Coast. In his spare time he plays cricket with the locals. Fred Abbotts played with the same team last year but had the misfortune to have his foot crushed whilst working in his mill some months ago. It was a nasty accident, but Fred is hobbling about again. Max Ross, who is a busy storekeeper at Krambach, often pops over to the town in which Griffo lives and has a little holiday there. The Annual General Meeting of the Assn. will be held this year at Sargents, Market Street, on St. Paddy's Day, March 17th, at 8 p.m. It is a special meeting this year because, after the meeting, the Assn. will conduct an official "Welcome Home" to "THE OLD MAN". We want every member who is living in Sydney to be sure to come along and show the old boy that he has a host of friends who are glad to see him home again. The General Meeting, which was well patronised last year, will be an important one because there will be introduced several important motions and an amendment to the Constitution. There will be no charge for the Meeting, of course, but to cover expenses a small charge of 4/- will be made to cover the cost of a glass of ale. This is not a smoky and we will not be following our usual policy of providing enough beer for you to swim in, it will be a simple little show at which we can all say "hello" to an old friend. DON'T MISS THIS NIGHT and DON'T FORGET THE DATE, St. Patrick's Day (as a matter of fact, I intend to recommend to the Committee that all those who attend, wearing a green tie or the harp of Erin in their lapel, should he admitted at a reduced rate). Garry Rickwood writes from Singapore with lots of interesting news items. He is enjoying good health and, at present, is living at Caldecott Hill where we were encamped for a time. He has the house that the Jap guards had, next door to the place Black Jack used for his headquarters. It's a little more comfortable than 1943 as in those days it was 160 per house and now it houses only Garry, his wife and his small son. The son of the house is not yet 3 and weighs 41 pounds, all dynamite. The little fellow speaks Chinese, Malay, and English as an afterthought. Garry was talking to Ben Barnett recently when Ben was enroute to England as an Aspro salesman. Ben said that "he might stop in England for a couple of years." Tell me, how do these fellows get these ,jobs" Big McDougall is leaving his job as a magistrate in Singapore and joining a firm of lawyers. He is still putting on weight and is now about 18 stone. Our former Unit C.O. arrived back in Australia just too late for us to include the news in our last Makan. By this time most of those who live in the city will have spoken to the Old Man at the mass reunion held at Sydney on Feb. 15th. This reunion was also hold too late for us to report in this Makan, but we will tell you all about it next month. In the meantime, we hope that everybody will attend the Welcome Home as outlined in another part of this issue. Derek Smith sent his subs. along this year from Bargo. We are not clear on the reason for this change of address, but it is evident that 'Smiler’ has fled the city for a time. Please forward all cheques and money orders to R.E. Ellis, 21 Military Road, Neutral Bay. Cheerio, STAN ARNEIL. Back to 1950 index or Main Index |