Anzac’s band a real corker

MUSICAL TREAT: Anzac’s band give a winning performance to shoppers in the main street of Cork, Ireland. Performing were (from left to right) POMUSN Kara Williams, ABMUSN Tracy Burke, ABMUSN Damian Dowd, ABMUSN Matthew Booth, ABMUSN Shaun Tatnell, ABMUSN Juliana O’Brien, ABMUSN Andrew Hansch and LSMUSN Aaron Geeves.

Photo: POPH Damian Pawlenko

By LEUT Rachel Irving

With the sun shining and traffic at a stand still, HMAS Anzac made her way up the River Lee last month taking the Australian White Ensign to Ireland.

In a history making visit to the port of Cork, Anzac enjoyed the Irish hospitality for several days as part of her Northern Trident deployment.

Two of the ship’s sporting teams, the AFL and the basketball teams, both played local sides while in Cork, suffering defeat at the hands of the home sides.

The ship’s band detachment however, proved a real winner as they performed in the main street of town, stopping traffic and attracting hundreds of lunchtime shoppers and visitors.

With a mix of Australian rock and current chart mixes, they soon had the crowd singing, clapping and dancing along. Anzac has been promoting Australian and in particular Western Australian industry throughout its European leg of Northern Trident, and took advantage of her stay in Cork to further this.

In conjunction with the Western Australian (WA) Government, the ship helped host an afternoon of WA wine tasting, hosted by the Commanding Officer, CAPT Richard Menhinick, the WEEO, CMDR Simon O’Brien and Agent General for WA Mr Robert Fisher AM.

The event was held on the flight deck with all the finery of a five-star affair.

More than 20 WA wines were promoted to an enthusiastic guest list of restaurant owners, fine wine stores, wine media, tourism operators and on and off licences. CMDR O’Brien said that the ship’s deployment has been a real chance to promote Australia and the RAN to the world.

“Northern Trident has been a unique opportunity for the RAN, and we have certainly been an excellent platform for Australian industry to engage the wider international market,” CMDR O’Brien said.

“This visit to Cork has proven this, with four to five times the usual response from the Irish wine industry, simply because the Trade Wine Tasting was held on Anzac.”

After leaving Cork, Anzac headed to Portsmouth, UK, where she participated in Trafalgar 200 and International Festival of the Sea Celebrations.

 

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