Grati-Tuesday - 14th November 2023

 

Happy Tuesday Friends!

The following letters contain some beautiful sentiments! 
Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy some well deserved gratitude!

... 

Good Morning Friends of Aussie Hero Quilts,

 

On behalf of the Commanding Officer and the rest of HMAS Brisbane, we would like to say thank you for the laundry bags we received prior to deploying.

 

Everyone who received a laundry bag truly appreciates the efforts of the volunteers who went to significant effort to provide over 100 personnel something special.

 

They are all beautiful and unique and something we will keep for deployments to come.

 

Thank you for the continued support you provide to the greater Royal Australian Navy.

 

Kind Regards,

... 

Hi Heather B,

I was fortunate enough to receive a laundry bag you made for Aussie Hero's. 

I serve in the Royal Australian Navy. I am currently posted to HMAS Canberra which sails in and out of Sydney. We are coming up to a busy second half of the year and set sail soon.

I am from QLD and miss home very much! I am missing my dog, Bart. He is 5 and is a very good boy!

Thank you for your support, it means the world. 

Kind regards, 

... 

Hello Ruth S,

 

Thanks so much for the Laundry bag you sent me. I really appreciate the thought and effort that was put into it.

Kind Regards,

... 

Good Morning Bridget R,

 

A big heart felt thank you for making me a beautiful  laundry bag.

I appreciate the fine detail and creative work that went into making this.

The nursing theme and finished product really exceeded my expectations.

 

Once again thank you Bridget and Jan-Maree in supporting the men and women of the ADF

 

Kind regards,

... 

Good Morning Lesley B!

I recently received my Aussie Hero Quilt from you and Heather, and I absolutely love it! 

I am excited to bring it with me on my next trip, it will bring a lot of life into the room. So Thank you again and I wish you the best!

... 

Good morning Sheena B,

Thank you so much for my quilt. You've definitely nailed those connections of Invictus Games, RAAF, and Soccer. I love the Roundel as a symbol of Air Force, and the green and gold colouring for Australia. 

I will be keeping this safe. The quilt I got from Sue last time came with me to the camps and to Germany where I laid it on my bed each day.

I've been in the RAAF for 27 years. I have a wife and 3 kids. Boy 18, girl 15 and boy 12. HSC starts today so it's all happening now. I was able to have everyone in Germany except the 18yo as well as my mum and dad. So a great supporter base. It's important for them, having been through our lows to see what we can achieve through their love and support, and to be able to take them to Germany (and Netherlands 2022) to do it was amazing. 

Thanks for sharing your story. It sounds like you are very busy with a great family. I love some of the animals names(Kevin's for the bacon). What a chance meeting you had that put you with this great organisation. I know the team are grateful for their Quilts. We get messages when they've received theirs too. They look great. 

The games were amazing. It is a sporting event on an obvious smaller scale to the Olympics,  but where sportsmanship is the winner. In a race the winners get cheered by their group,  but the person a lap behind who is out there having a go and overcoming 'their' diversity gets a cheer from the whole stadium. It is very emotional to see. I got a few PB's across my sports, I won a Gold medal as part of the 4x50m freestyle relay, but one of my main goals this time round was to complete the 100m run. Something I've not done since my injury. So that was an achievement. 

Keep doing what you're doing. We love it. 

Many Thanks

... 

Good afternoon Noelene W,

 

Thank you so much for your wonderful package. I was so thrilled to open it. It was so thoughtful and I was very touched.

 

The laundry bag is absolutely beautiful. What a talent you have to make such an amazing ANZAC bag. I really appreciated your card and enjoyed reading about you and your family. I must say, you have amazing penmanship!

 

I have two young daughters back home, who I am missing very much. Both my parents are also retired and are taking care of my girls whilst I am away. I love my job, although at times it takes me away from my family. I am proud to wear the uniform and I really appreciate groups such as Aussie Hero Quilts who bring joy and smiles to, both mine,  and my colleagues around me.

 

Thank you for all you do and I thank you for your service!

 

Kind regards,

... 

Gday PennieT,

I just wanted to say thank you for the dinosaur laundry bag its unique, bright and awesome. I love how it stands out and makes me look like an operator amongst the other basic green bags. 

 

Thankyou for your letter as well it is a very touching and moving thing to read something from someone who I have never met but cares deeply for my wellbeing and health.

 

So again thank you and I hope you have a great xmas with loved ones and a celebrate the end of an amazing year.

... 

Dear Susan G,

Firstly thank you so much for my beautiful quilt and laundry bag, I absolutely adore them. The detail and quality is amazing! You are very talented.

I really do appreciate that there are people like you that acknowledge our service, it really does mean a lot to all of us. For information, Flag Alpha is the military intercode to represent divers in the water. There’s something about being able to jump in the water and get paid for it that I just find so amazing.

I am currently posted to HMAS Diamantina, a Mine Hunter located in North Sydney, a crew of roughly 46 men and women who all live and work together day to day. I hope to be lucky enough to command a Mine Hunter one day, but we will see how we go!

I’m off to the UK next year with my family on an exchange posting with the Royal Navy. I am looking forward to it but I know I am going to miss Australia, we live in such a beautiful country and I am so proud to be able to represent it in the ADF.

Thank you again, you are apart of such an amazing orgnaisation and I thank you for that.

All the best Susan,

... 

Hi Kirsten O,

 

I just received the quilt that you made. OMG! It is beautiful!!! Thank you so much. When I wrote all those things down I didn’t expect someone to be able to combine them all into one beautiful masterpiece but you have.

 

I have taken it home and my daughter wants to claim it lol. She might sneak it into her room when I’m not looking.

 

I currently onboard HMAS Supply and I love it however right now we are in a long maintenance period so we only work on the ship if we are covering a duty, most of the time I work in an office on base and see Supply members there and mentoring junior sailors.

What an interesting life you have had so far. I would love to live in Canberra but my kids don’t want to move. I hope that you are proud of your work, I’m sure you made a positive difference to the lives of many.

 

Thank you again for the quilt it is something I will treasure forever and I look forward to taking it to sea and travelling the world with it and then one day passing it down to one of my kids J

  

Kind Regards,

... 

Good afternoon Angela T,

First thank you so very much for my Quilt, it never ceases to amaze me how wonderful people like yourself are. It is awesome to know that there are people out there who care and show appreciation for us. The quilt is absolutely amazing,  I love it so much!!! I won’t lie, I almost burst into tears of joy when I opened it. It really means so much and I can see how much love you put into it. It is an awesome piece of work and I love every detail. 

During my time in the ADF, I deployed 17 times (I think), having deployed to East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle east, Africa, Asia and was deployed domestically on counter terrorism duties. I conducted numerous training exercises and courses. I must admit a highlight was being selected to represent Australia at the last Invictus Games. It was an amazing experience and was great to share stories with other veterans from around the globe.

A little bit about myself. I grew up in Tasmania and joined the ADF at the age of 17. I was posted all over the country and spent my last 22 years here in WA. I met my wife in Brisbane and we have 3 adult boys, 27, 22 and 20. My wife is a current serving police officer here in WA and myself am retired. I have a service dog named George ( He is the lovely guy in the photo) and two other dogs, Maggie and Lucy (all three are border collies). We love to get away and had a Jayco all terrain caravan which we sold last year as we are currently awaiting our new van that we are having built, it is a brand called Sunseeker, a business out of QLD (I'll actually be driving across in a week or so hopefully to pick it up) We are super excited to be getting it as it has been tough without a van for the past 12 months. 

I'll drop in a couple of photos below with my new amazing Quilt.

Once again, Thank you so very much, I absolutely love it and am humbled with such a great gift

Please take care and hopefully see you soon

Kindest regards

... 

Until next week keep your letters, emails and photos coming in.  

Tuesday's would be so totally boring without them!

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