ANZAC DAY MARCH ADELAIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2023

ANZAC DAY MARCH 2023
The annual Anzac Day March took place on 25th April 2023 and is normally attended by Ian Bell, Tony Collins and David Brandon however Ian could not attend this year but we now have one more member of the South Australian Group, Jim Bell. Jim will join us at our monthly lunch meetings at the Henley Beach Hotel.
The day of the march was warm for late April at a sunny 26c, but luckily at the time of the march there was some light cloud which shaded us from direct sun. The march commenced at 0930hrs and the last contingent passed the saluting Dias at about 1130hrs. There is always a big turnout and this year was no exception.
JIM BLACK 84TH Entry Tech Apprentice

I joined as a 26th Entry Boy Entrant in Oct 1955 at RAF Cosford. In early 1956 I sat the AA exam and transferred to 84th Entry No 1 Radio School, Locking near Weston Super Mare.
Promoted to Jnr Tech. Air Radio Fitter in Feb 1959 and posted to 24 MU Stoke Heath which moved to Sealand just over the Welsh border near Chester.
I was promoted to Cpl in 1961 and decided sitting at a bench every day was not for me so I volunteered for overseas and was posted to RAAF Base Edinburgh, South Australia, in July 1961.
Assigned to Target Aircraft Flight, responsible for fitting out a couple of Meteors and a Canberra to fly pilotless, this was the same equipment that was being used on the Jindivik project by the Weapons Research Establishment.
I Captained the Edinburgh soccer team playing in the SA Soccer Federation Division 2 at the time and was selected for the 1962 State Team Tour of Tasmania, 3 games, 3 wins. The Federation also ran a “World Cup” night series and I was selected for the Scots.
I was promoted to Cpl Tech and posted to Kinloss in Sept 1963, on the Maritime Operational Training Unit and then posted to 206 Squadron, still on Kinloss, and at last I actually got to work on real operational aircraft, the Shackleton Phase III.
In 1965 a crew was sent to Jacksonville, Florida, to evaluate the Orion, I was lucky enough to be part of the ground crew for the Shackleton we were flying in.
I was promoted to Sgt in April 1966 and had the chance to transfer to Air Electronics, but by this time I had a wife and 3 children and Australia had been kind to us so we decided to migrate under the assisted passage scheme and arrived here in July 1966.
I joined IBM in Sydney as a Time Systems Engineer and in 1968 was transferred to Adelaide where I worked for 30 years in various Engineering and Management roles. In 1996 IBM lost the Whole of Government I.T. tender and a fairly attractive separation package was offered which I took. I had a few months off and was having trouble getting up in the morning so I decided to get back in the workforce. Electronic Data Systems had won the I.T. tender so I sent my resume to them and l ended up working for the opposition. I held the position of EDS Account Manager for a few years then decided to get into Project Management. I took my PMP Certification and worked on various I.T. projects for the SA Government before moving into the EDS Education Centre. I spent some time in EDS HQ in Plano, Texas getting certified in the EDS Project Management Methodology and then spent the last couple of years teaching it to EDS staff around the Asia Pacific region. I left EDS in 2007 and decided it was time to retire.
I have always had an interest in Soccer as a player and coach. I am one of the founding members of the Ingle Farm soccer club where I coached various teams whilst I was still playing in the Amateur League. Currently to keep fit and my mind active I enjoy various forms of dancing, Contra, Irish Set Dancing and of course Scottish Ceilidh dancing.