Part 13 of the Tales of our Travelling 15th Anniversary Laumndry Bags.

It is time for Part 13 of the Tales of the Travelling 15th Anniversary Laundry Bags....

Now where are the rest?

Two are in the ACT, one is in WA, one in QLD, one in VIC, one on the way to WA to catch up wiht the Navy at Fleet Base West and two floating around in NSW.  The last one is waiting to go to Canberra for the Invictus Trials coming up. Another is on hold to go off with a Defence Sports Team with the coach in early August. 

A couple have even been taken out of circulation til the auction at the 15th Anniversary Dinner because of the folk who have signed them but I can't tell you about them just now. 

If you don't look at any of our social media pages then the following is a copy of what I have been putting up on our social media platforms. 

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HMAS Sydney Part 1

We have a great relationship with the @Royal_Australian_Navy and I reckon it would be pretty hard to go onboard any boat/ship/vessel of any sort (except perhaps the RHIBs) within the Royal Australian Navy and not find evidence of support from Aussie Hero Quilts.  Our laundry bags and quilts are always fairly visible.  That said, if I am wrong please let me know and we will rectify the situation as soon as we can.

Recently we were able to save some postage by giving @HMAS_Sydney 35 laundry bags to take with them on RIMPAC to deliver to some US based Aussie sailors.

For now, though, please enjoy these pictures from HMAS Sydney with members of their crew celebrating our 15th Anniversary.

First up we have the Commanding Officer, CMDR Ben Weller signing our anniversary bag. We also have LSET Nathan proudly holding the bag on foc’sle and in the Stores Office with some of our sailors who had received an Aussie Hero Quilt during their previous Deployments/Operations.

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HMAS Sydney Part 2

In our second batch of photos from HMAS Sydney we have POMED Erika with the Laundry Bag in the Medical Facility onboard, the Gangway staff displaying the Laundry Bag in front of the Ships Bouy and some of the younger crew members in the Marine Engineering Office, excited to have signed the Laundry Bag and finally.

Without naming any names, one of these sailors was on one of the very first ships we supported way back in 2013.  It was also the first ship that invited me to be on the wharf with the families to welcome the crew home from Op Manitou all those years ago. 

Additionally, this particular sailor took the time to take a few happy snaps of quilts on bunks and laundry bags on duty, hanging around the laundry. These were some of the first photos we had of quilts and bags at work on board our ships way back in our early years.  This sailor was included in the photos just by chance but it was lovely to see them popping up celebrating our 15^th Anniversary!

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Another one of our supporters over the years is The Navy's Anchorage and they were more than happy to support our 15th Anniversary Laundry Bag program in advance of our Anniversary Dinner this year.

“Coinciding with The Navy's Anchorage 1 Million coffee purchase on Wednesday June 24th, the sailors, soldiers and aviators at the All Ranks Cafe were more than happy to have a photo with one of our 15th Anniversary laundry bags. The Navy's Anchorage is a proud sponsor and supporter of Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags)."

#Aussieheroquilts #AusNavy #15yearsofcaringforourADF #thenavysanchorage

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Soooo today is the first day of the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair and I should be there sharing the stories of Aussie Hero Quilts with interested members of the public. Instead, I’m waiting to see my GP as I’m coughing and wheezing like a champion. Thankfully, two of our awesome volunteers, Philomena and Marianne, have rearranged their plans and they’ve stepped up to represent us for the next four days. A few others will be popping in as well, but Philomena and Marianne got there extra early this morning to set up and will be there every day!! I always say we have the best volunteers and this is just another example of their commitment to supporting our ADF personnel!!

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Philomena and Bel are on the job at the at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair today. I sent along one of our 15th Anniversary Laundry Bags and received a couple of photos back today. First up is the mother of Jordan who received a quilt a few years ago when he was in Iraq. Next the girls met Sue who received a laundry bag when she was deployed to the Middle East. It is so great they stopped by to say hello!

Philomena also went to search out one of our supporters.  Meet Trev, the @Scissorman. He has been supporting us by donating items to go into the goodie bags we give to our volunteers when they attend out Volunteers’ Gathering on the Friday Night of our Annual Thank You Weekend. Our whole weekend is aimed at making our volunteers feel appreciated and the goodies bags are very much a part of that.

Big thanks to the ladies for posing with our bag and also a huge thanks to Trev for his generous support.

Till next time..... keep spreading the word and happy stitching! 

Jan-Maree xx