The ‘Wall-to-Wall Ride For Remembrance’, the annual national event in memory of Police Officers killed on duty will have a separate event starting at Woronora Memorial Park this Saturday.
The memorial ride involves thousands of police, former-police, friends, family and proud supporters of policing ride motorcycles from all across Australia to the National Police Memorial in Canberra.
Every year, the NSW ride leaves from the Police Memorial at the Domain in Sydney.
But this year, for the first time, a satellite event will start from the Woronora Memorial Park to join up with the riders from the Sydney Domain.
Organiser of the Sutherland event, is Retired Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin.
“There are many retired police officers in Sutherland Shire so we felt that we would have a local memorial service at Woronora before starting on the ride and joining up with the main body of riders at Pheasants Nest for the ride to Canberra,” Mr Godwin said.
The shire memorial service will be held at the Police Memorial created at Woronora Memorial Park which was was created in 2015 to honour local police officers killed while on duty.
A contingent of serving and retired police and friends will meet at the Police Memorial at 7am on Saturday, September 15 where a short ceremony will be held to pay tribute to the 11 officers killed while on duty in the Sutherland and St George Police Area Commands and 13 other New South Wales police officers killed in the line of duty in other locations, and who now rest within the cemetery.
Mr Goodwin will host the service which will be conducted by Police Chaplains David Warner and Frank Langford.
Two historic police motocycles will be on disiplay at the Woronora Police Memorial, as well as the recreated ‘MFP’ motorcycle from the movie ‘Mad Max’.
The Sutherland Shire motorcycle contingent will then ride from Woronora Police Memorial to meet the main contingent riding from the Domain in Sydney as they pass Pheasant’s Nest, then on to the ceremony at the National Police Remembrance Wall in Canberra, hence the name ‘Wall-to-Wall’.
With the National Police Memorial as a focal point, and highlighting the positive image of police in the promotion of motorcycle safety and awareness, this has now become a much anticipated annual charity event in commemoration of the service and sacrifice of our police and for each State to raise much needed funds in support of their police charity organisations.
In NSW, the event is a charity fundraiser for NSW Police Legacy, who assist the families and children of Police Officers injured or killed on duty.
NSW Police will also be holding a special Memorial Service to remember police officers killed on duty on Friday, September 21 at 4pm on Friday 21 at t ‘Tranquil Gardens’ in Woronora Memorial Park.
Local Police, retired/former Police, relatives, friends and the community are invited to attend this special annual Police Remembrance Service to honour those Policewomen and Policemen who lost their lives in the line of duty while serving in the St George and Sutherland Shire.