Albany Remembrance Day service to go ahead rain, hail or shine

Albany’s Remembrance Day service will go ahead on Friday come rain, hail or shine. That is the message from the Albany RSL sub-branch, with organisers ready to move the service from the Albany War Memorial on York Street into St John’s Anglican Church in the event of wet weather. The Albany community gathers in York Street on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month each year to remember the service and sacrifices of defence force personnel. It is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice between Germany and the Allies in 1918, when the guns fell silent at the end of World War I. People at Friday’s service will include 10 students from the Premier’s Anzac Student Tour, Federal and State MPs, City of Albany representatives, and serving and retired members of the defence force. The service will start at 10.30am, with road closures in place on York Street from 10am to 11.30am. After the formal Remembrance Day program — which will include an address by a special guest — the Albany RSL will host a public function with light refreshments at its Stirling Terrace headquarters. Albany RSL services director Michael Tugwell said he hoped the service would be able to go ahead at the memorial but it could be moved indoors if it rained. If Friday’s service has to be held in the church, it will be the sixth Albany RSL service in a row this year that has been moved indoors because of wet weather. While the past five services have been moved to the Albany RSL building on Stirling Terrace, the expected size of this year’s Remembrance Day crowd means that is not an option.