Community ………………3 to

What’s on Mother’s Day Classic May 8th

Join your Eurobodalla community on Mother’s Day to support and honour those affected by breast cancer. Be a part of a small and passionate crowd with music, entertainment and plenty of community spirit! You’ll also receive a commemora ve medallion (subject to availability on the day), handed over when you cross the finish line. EVENT INFORMATION Where: Corrigans Beach Reserve, Beach Road, Batemans Bay When: Sunday 8th May Distances and mes: Walk 4km - 11:00am Run 6km - 10:00am Dogs are allowed at this event Tickets Adult Age 18+ $34.95 Concession Seniors, Students, Age 13+ Health Care Card holders $27.95 Child Age 3-12 years $19.95

Apr 22nd - Chris McGrath at One Tree In, Tuross Head Apr 22nd - Phil McKnight at Batemans Bay Soldiers Club

Apr 23rd - This Saturday a ernoon/ evening - a chilled Saturday Sesh outside by the river with an awesome line up of DJS at Moruya Waterfront Hotel Apr 23rd - Phil McKnight at Batemans Bay Soldiers Club Apr 23rd - Totum at Club Catalina Apr 23rd - Flock of Haircuts at Tomakin Social Club Apr 23rd - Fred Smith and band at Batemans Bay Soldiers Club Apr 23rd - Country Pumpkins – Moruya Markets (10am) Apr 23rd - Roddy Reason – Tuross Club (7.30pm) Apr 24th -Baritone David Greco sings songs of love and loss. 2pm St Bernard's Church Batehaven Apr 24th - Chango Tree at the Bodalla Pub 1pm to 4pm Apr 24th - Eurobodalla Live Music at Moruya Golf Club 12:30pm to 3:30pm Apr 30th - Driving Sideways at Club Catalina Apr 30th - Pearlerz at Tomakin Social Club Apr 30th - Joe Driscoll – Tuross Club (7.30pm) May 1st - Vinyl Rain – Club Narooma (2pm)

What’s on Fred Smith ANZAC Weekend Concert at Batemans Bay Soldiers Club

Fred Smith and band will be presen ng this extraordinary song cycle on Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club on Saturday 23 April. The concert will begin with songs from Fred’s acclaimed Dust of Uruzgan album which draw on his experiences working alongside Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan. It will culminate with material he wrote a er working on the drama c evacua on from Kabul in August 2021. Fred Smith was the first Australian diplomat to be sent to work alongside Australian soldiers in Uruzgan Province in 2009 and a last to leave in 2013. While there he wrote songs about his experience and put on regular concerts on the base with band is made up of Aussie, US and Dutch soldiers as well as Afghan staff. Returning to Australia, he recorded these songs on an album Dust of Uruzgan. The CD was described in the Weekend Australian as con nuing “a tradi on of profoundly affec ng Australians-at-war ballads that includes Eric Bogle’s And the band played Waltzing Ma lda, Don Walker’s Khe Sanh and John Schumann’s I was only 19.” The tle track was covered by Lee Kernaghan on his top selling Spirit of the Anzacs album. Smith also wrote a book called The Dust of Uruzgan about his experiences, published by Allen and Unwin in 2016, and is subject of an ABC Australian Story documentary. In 2020, Smith went back to Afghanistan to work in the Australian Embassy in Kabul. As Kabul fell under Taliban control, he found himself working from Kabul Interna onal Airport (KIA) on Australia’s mission to evacuate passport and visa holders. His experiences at the horrendous human logjams at the gates of the airport are expressed in this new single, “Gates of KIA”. “Seeing such human despera on of my own eyes changed me” said Smith. Since returning, he built a final version of the Dust of Uruzgan stage show that toured to 80 theatres around Australia. Does a remarkable job of explaining Australia’s 20 year involvement in Afghanistan, culmina ng the evacua on. “The percep on is that the evacua on was a failure, but in fact the Australian team managed to get 4100 people out most of them are now living in Australia. Their girls and boys are going to school and having swimming lessons. We’ve changed people’s lives” said Smith. “This is a story worth telling” Fred is seen by many as the unofficial historian of Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan. His book The Dust of Uruzgan was described by Channel 10 Poli cal Editor Hugh Riminton as “as convincing a picture as we will ever have of the tragedy, hope, oddness and courage of Australia’s Uruzgan enterprise…an astonishingly vibrant piece of reportage from the heart of our longest war.” The lyrics to his song Sapper’s Lullaby are engraved in marble at the Australian plot the centuries old Bri sh War Cemetery in Kabul.