The attendance at both the dawn service and the main commemoration was outstanding and the enthusiastic support of our two bands, our excellent community choir and our readers of prayers and the names of diggers were all critical to the success of the commemoration.

Warrant Officer Phillip Robertson, our special guest from the RAN, and his wife, Angela, commented that it was one of the best Anzac commemorations they have attended.

The only glitch, and this is unfortunately a very big one, is the failure of the PA system to meet the needs of the huge crowd.

The system in use, which belongs to the Memorial Hall, had been found wanting and Mr Marty Roberts lent the council his much-improved system. We tried it out early in the morning and in an empty street the speakers were clearly audible on the opposite side of Balo Street.

Unfortunately, it appears that once the street was crowded, speakers could not be heard on the opposite side of Balo Street or in the wings on either side of the Memorial Hall.

As to whether the problem is the large crowd absorbing the broadcast, or chatter, or some other cause is not apparent but must be investigated and I will be asking Moree Council to do everything in its power to ensure that in 2018 we do not have the same problem.

Those who made the effort to attend but could not hear were bitterly disappointed and I fully sympathise with them.

Yours sincerely,

Roger Butler OAM, Anzac Day coordinator and MC