Colton Electorate

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:24): I rise today to draw the attention of the house and my community to the annual Remembrance Day service that will be held in our community this year. For the first time, to the best of my knowledge, the Henley & Grange RSL, which each year organises the service, will be conducting it at Henley Square. They are encouraging the public and locals, if they have the opportunity next Friday 11 November, to come down and be a part of the service. The Remembrance Day service will commence at 10.30am at the square, where we will recognise those who have served our country and paid the ultimate sacrifice in retaining the freedom that we enjoy.

I have always loved having the opportunity to attend Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day services. I think they are made that little bit more special when they are held in coastal locations. In previous years, when our ANZAC Day service was held on Seaview Road, we heard waves crashing and remembered during those moments of silence the fact that so many of our most important and key conflicts have been undertaken on beaches, in coastal areas, none more so than at Gallipoli. Again, I encourage all members of the public, all locals in the Henley Beach area, to come down and pay your respects this Remembrance Day at 10.30am at the square.

There is lots of excitement around the Henley & Grange RSL with the redevelopment of their clubrooms now well underway, with a full demolition and removal of the current transportable structure, which sat west of the main building, and the extension and refurbishment of the main building. The works include a new open area to the west, replacing the transportable structure that I just mentioned, and internal works to facilitate a new disabled access toilet and refurbished bar and toilet area. A new ceiling will be installed throughout the whole building to link it together.

The renovations are well underway, having started after the last day of trade on Monday 9 May earlier this year, a day when, certainly from all accounts, the bar was totally drunk dry. My latest update is that renovations have picked up again pretty quickly after a small delay that saw steel beams take some time to get to site. I know that members of the Henley & Grange RSL are keen to get down there and back into the facility. It is not too far away—hopefully in the next few months. In the meantime, though, they are meeting on Thursday evenings at the Henley Bowling Club. For anyone interested, please head on down. I would like to also take the opportunity to put on the record my acknowledgement of the current president, Mr Malcolm Whitford, and his committee, for their work in the area.

It would be remiss of me not to recognise the service held on 8 October for the Korea Missing in Action war memorial service at the top of Port Road. It is organised each and every year by the Korea & South East Asia Forces Association. It was good on that day to have the opportunity to catch up again with John Jarrett and Michael Domarecki, two well-known people to the Henley & Grange RSL and the Korea & South East Asia Forces Association.

I rise today also to recognise the achievements of our local football clubs during this 2022 season. It has been a huge season of success for the Henley Sharks, with their A Grade Women winning the premiership and their C and D grade teams taking home a premiership. I had the opportunity to attend their senior presentation night just a couple of weeks ago. I congratulate Jack on his A Grade Best and Fairest on that night. To the committee members and volunteers of that club, thank you for everything that you do. Thank you to Vinnie Ruggalo for his service to the club as the A grade coach over the last number of years.

I would also like to acknowledge the Lockleys (Demons) Football Club for the work they did over this season, with the C grade getting a premiership, the B grade getting their three-peat premiership and the A grade just falling short. However, there are exciting times ahead for the Lockleys Football Club, given that they had secured promotion to division 4 next year. Good luck to the Sharks and the Demons next year, and we wish them the best of luck.