HIGH-ranking Navy official Commodore Michael Houghton will be the guest speaker at Armidale’s Anzac Day ceremony.
Armidale RSL sub-branch president Bob Holloway said Commodore Houghton would attend the dawn service before speaking at the 11am service in Central Park.
Commodore Houghton is the Navy’s director-general of Major Surface Ships and Defence Material Organisation.
Mr Holloway said he was unsure whether school holidays would impact on crowd numbers at this year’s services, but was confident that thousands would still turn up to commemmorate Anzac Day.
School holidays won’t impact members of the second oldest school cadet unit in Australia.
The Armidale School’s cadets will provide a guard at the Armidale service, as well as the commemoration service at Dangarsleigh.
TAS will conduct its own Anzac Day ceremony at 7am on Thursday May 1, on Adamsfield, to the north of the school’s War Memorial Assembly Hall.
The traditional service, open to the public as well as the school community, will include the reading of the names of 103 old boys and staff who gave their lives in service of the nation from the Boer War to Afghanistan.
ANZAC DAY SERVICES
Armidale: 6am and 11am.
Bundarra: 10.30am.
Dangarsleigh: 8.45am.
Hillgrove: 8am.
UNE: 8.30am.
Uralla: 5.45am and 9.45am.