4^th November 2012:  The ACT Branch is holding its Christmas function at the Canberra Bowling Club on Sunday 11 Nov 2012, it will be a BBQ and Bowls day commencing at 1200, Members and families welcome. Contact Blue Galley for more details.

2^nd November 2012:  The ACT Branch is involved in supporting NTS Orion which has started up in Jindabyne, here is their latest update.

Just a quick update on NTS Orion progress over the last couple of months, we now have 21 cadets on the books which is a great effort from all here.

Since our intake of cadets keeps growing we are now in negotiations with Sport and Rec for use of Lodge 5 (as it has been decommissioned as sleeping quarters) and hopefully if all goes to plan NTS Orion could call it home because at the moment for all those who have seen the Sports clubhouse we use at the moment 21 cadets and 7 staff leave only elbow room for breathing.

As of this financial year with the budget cuts to the Defence Force, this has filtered down to the ANC and at the bottom is us which relates to a funding cut for accommodation to NTS Orion.  We are not the only ones in this boat, I’m sure everyone is feeling the pinch so we will play the cards we have been dealt with and with more cadets joining comes more subscriptions which should be enough to cover costs of the accommodation.   However it will limit the number of outing that we will be able to take the cadets on even on weekend postings at Sport and Rec.

Enough doom and gloom now to a feel good item last Tuesday night after a lot of planning by a number of devotes staff we gain approval to take the cadets night skiing at Front Valley at Perisher we had 9 cadets and 6 staff take part in the nigh activity which was hailed a great success. We are hoping that we can do it again next year and invite other units to join us.

I have added some photo’s of the evening.  As you can see it was an enjoyable time had by all.

The rest of the year holds a few more events for us. We have been invited to TS Shoalhaven, our parent units National Inspection to be held at HMAS Albatross on the 29th September.

On the 23rd to 25th of November we will be sailing with TS Jervis Bay out of HMAS Creswell with the year ending on the 8th December with a bar-b-que and awards ceremony.

That’s it for our news update any comments or inquiries please feel free to contact me.

SBLT Pierre Vennik, JP ANC
Officer in Charge
NTS Orion
M 0402 048 416

26th August 2012:  The ACT Branch had it's AGM on the 26th August and the following elected as Office Bearers for 2012/2013.

• President:                 CMDR David Strangward

• Vice President:         Paul McCallum

• Secretary:                 Geoff Burns

• Treasurer:                 Peter Knights

Committee Members: Andrew Galley, Michael Washington, Keith Bateman, Alan Harris and Kevin Piechowski

Andy 'Blue Galley' is presently Acting Secretary whilst Geoff Burns is OS on leave, so please forward any correspondence of interest to him until further notice.

1st June 2012:  The ACT Branch has been invited to attend the first divisions of the New Training Ship Orion in June (the cadets are from the Jindabyne area). I will get more details as they become available, but we look like having a good turn out for the cadets. Hopefully a few pictures will be available as well (not of us old farts marching, we will leave that to the young kids).

We have a branch meeting next week and we will provide a consolidated list of up coming events for you.  Posted by Dave Strangward

The Branch welcomes the following who joined the Association in 2013.

Clarke, Kevin . ex PORSESSM, served on HMAS Orion and HMAS Otama. Partner Beth, Kambah, ACT.

Are you a Member?  If not - why not? 

Date & Time	Event	Remarks
6th April 2013	ACT: Commissioning of Naval Training Ship Orion	Venue:  Jindabyne.  Contact Branch Secretary Geoff Burns for further details.
7th - 10th June 2013		The submarine community of Australia will be meeting in Townsville in June 2013 for four days of reunion and fun. Visit the website for more information.
25th August 2013 1100	Annual General Meeting	Details to be advised