Legacy centenary relay marchers drawn from across the region

The Legacy Centenary Torch Relay had many facets.

Torch bearers from the Tamworth Legacy area which includes, Barraba, Boggabri, Gunnedah, Manilla, Narrabri, Quirindi and Tamworth were joined by Legacy volunteers, and a cavalcade of four, representing the Light Horse Brigade.

They made their way around Tamworth streets prior to Tamworth Legacy president Greg Roese lighting the cauldron while holding 99-year-old Agnes Richardson’s hand.

Narrabri’s representative Vietnam War veteran Phillip Smith joined thirty plus torch bearers all embracing the Legacy ideals and remembering their family and friends.

Four men riding their trusty horses through the Tamworth streets representing the Australian Light Horse Brigade were Wayne Mills from Guyra, Warren Bramley from Blandford, Michael Roland and David Thurn from Manilla.

The Courier spoke to Mr Mills.

Mr Mills said, “We didn’t really do very much other than escort the torch bearers and I was proud to carry the Australian flag while doing that.”

Mr Mills’ father lost sight in one of his eyes while attempting to dig out a mine on the battlefield in November 1942, during the second battle of Al Alamein in Egypt.

“He was in the desert and a mine blew up on him,” Mr Mills said.

“He was discharged about six months later and sent back to Australia on a hospital ship where he was rehabilitated and returned to work as a sheep and wool officer in Glen Innes”.

Mr Mills’ father died at the age of 60 in 1972, and Legacy helped the family of four boys – Graeme, Wayne, Ross and Peter –while they were young and Mrs Mills up until she died in 2010 at the age of 87.

It rained for most of the relay and while some torch bearers had volunteers that had umbrellas or clear plastic covers the mounted cavalcade didn’t have any cover and on a lighter side, Mr Mills said, “I tipped a cup of water out of my scabbard after the relay finished”.

Narrabri has a connection to the Mills family with Senior Constable Ross Mills having been stationed in Narrabri with the NSW Police Force in 1980 to 2000.