Plans for a Commemoration Diggers Ball to take place on September 29, 2018, were given a kick start with the recent announcement of funding to help the project along.
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Federal Member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie met with members of the Manning Valley Historical Society and the ball organising committee to announce the funding, which was provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Armistice Centenary Grants Program.
“It’s with great pleasure that I announce today that the Manning Valley Historical Society, that applied for a grant to hold a 100 year commemoration ball for the diggers, was successful and as a result the society is going to receive $4400 to put on this massive event at Wingham Town Hall,” Dr Gillespie said.
“George, Terry, Mave and the whole Historical Society will do a fantastic job, I’m sure, and it will go down in the annals of Manning Valley history. One of the Manning Valley’s greatest treasures is at the forefront of enriching the social fabric of the Valley with this ball.”
It’s something that you can’t ask the government to give public money to us to have a party.
- Mave Richardson AM PSM
Diggers Balls are not new to Wingham. An annual Diggers Ball was held at Wingham Town Hall from the hall’s birth in 1924 up until the late 1950s.
“In those days, agreements were approved for the Wingham RSL Sub-branch to have free access to the Town Hall and facilities, for specified RSL use in identified areas and times, in perpetuity,” MVHS member Mave Richardson AM PSM said.
“Indeed, a High Court decision in 1950 reaffirmed these conditions. One of the specifications was an annual Diggers Ball.”
The grant will help to cover band hire, catering, printing, hire of equipment, and costs for audio visual recordings and advertising.
“It’s something that you can’t ask the government to give public money to us to have a party, it’s an event that is about commemoration and thanksgiving, and it’s very much community inclusive,” Mave said.
While the Ball will commemorate 100 years of the end of WWI, it is also an event to honour all of our defense and peacekeeping service men and women, past and present, as well as providing a thanksgiving opportunity for the peace that followed the end of WWI.
“The program will reflect the WWI era, then on through the decades to the present day,” Mave said.
“This will be a never-to-be-repeated community event.”