Hi All
You may have seen notices up in Green Apple announcing that the opening hours on Anzac Day, Thursday April 25, will be from 3 o’clock to 6 pm. The reason we planned to Open for three hours was in response to a few members enquiring, “would we be able to access the gym on Anzac Day”.
The time of day was chosen because the morning of ANZAC Day is dedicated to ceremonies, showing appreciation and remembrance of people whom have dedicated their life to protecting Australians and New Zealanders. So we never open on Anzac morning. Then I was told that many places, offering different services, did open in the afternoon only and this is why the opening time was chosen.
Since gazetting these opening hours on Anzac Day we have reconsidered, thanks to certain members asking us to dedicate the whole day to the Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women, past and current, whom have protected us all. I am more than happy that we have been asked to do this and want to thank those who had the courage to speak up.
I have my own reasons to observe Anzac Day. My father, Dr John Sydney Hamilton-Gibbs, was a doctor in the British Army. He was a New Zealander who went to the UK for years to gain his Dermatology qualifications after graduating with the medical degree he studied in New Zealand. Newly married, he and my mother had their first child in Edinburgh, and once qualified in Dermatology he joined the British Army and was sent to India pre-WW2. Three more children in quick succession left them with 4 children under four when my father was sent to Singapore. My mother was flown back to NZ and my father was captured by the Japanese and spent his war years in terrible conditions.
So I feel that Anzac Day is a very important day to recognise. I grew up in a family that had a returned war survivor, in an era when post-traumatic-stress was not understood. We were all affected and I know that this recognition shown by the public now is so important.
I hope you will all be able to observe the day in your own way, as Brian and I will.
Cheers,
