Memorial Walkway
It was only discovered during the upgrade of the Club Memorial in 2019 that previous Club President Roy Drummond was actually a recipient of the Military Medal. A true local hero. Extract from Military records reads:
“LCPL Drummonds Military Medal was awarded as a result of actions on the night of 7th/8th July 1918 at Hamel East of Corbie near Amiens, where almost all the other NCOs in the platoon were killed or wounded. LCPL Drummond took charge of the remainder of the platoon, re-organised and led them to the objective. He also aided the wounded and showed great initiative throughout the operation.”
In late 2017 the RSL Club approached the Port Adelaide Enfield Council to take over the maintenance and upkeep of the laneway alongside the RSL Hall. Approval to become custodians of the Laneway was received from Council in July 2018. It was then decided by the Club to create a memorial walkway in order to recognise the service of military groups and support groups whose contribution to our military conflicts can sometimes be overlooked. It was further decided to name the Laneway gardens after our Military Medallist.
In 2018/19 grant submissions to the Port Adelaide Enfield Council, Department of Veteran’s Affair and Veteran’s SA were all successful and provided around $15,000 to the project. The project included all garden upgrades, sprinkler system and security cameras. The initial planting of the gardens was undertaken by Defence Children from the Largs Bay School, supervised by staff members from Bunnings Woodville, who kindly provided the plants.
Work commenced just after ANZAC day 2019 and after eight working bees lead by committee member Alan Aspland, and numerous days’ work from the Club’s “Dad’s Army” and “F Troop”, the Memorial; Laneway was officially opened on Sunday 23rd February 2020 to coincide with our Contemporary Veterans Day.
