Commemoration of 1914-18 war events will continue until late 2018 when it will be a century since the war's best news was announced, namely an Armistice bringing peace.

Albury's last veteran of that war, Cec Meredith, a sailor, died in 1996, aged 93, while Corowa's Derisley Wood lived to 1998 and Holbrook's Walter Winnett to 2000.

So much for the "last Anzacs," but what of the 1939-45 war veterans?

Twenty years ago, Albury's Anzac Day saw 250 World War II veterans marching or being chauffeured in vehicles, and they included 10 women.

How many of these veterans will march this Anzac Day? Not many, as all such men and women will be in their 90s and sadly several of their comrades in arms have died since last Anzac Day.

Now is the time to see them march perhaps for the last time, but we should also do more than watch and admire them.

Their stories should be recorded for posterity through interviews and photographs.

Here is a chance for today's schoolchildren, all now born in the 21st century, to learn something of the personal implications of war and those who served, before they and their memories all fade away.

The need to form a Federation Voices Group is a sign of so much mistrust and dysfunction and division and leadership that it is causing a loss of trust in the greater community.

It is a sad fact that the need to form such a group exists. The executive in control is not open to we, the public, and it is causing us all to lose trust. 

It is time for some fresh new faces and aims for this town/shire which is full of potential but controlled by those who have not had goals and visions to make our town and shire a vibrant year-round place people want to be be in.

This town needs experts and talent to take it forward and grow it to  capture its potential.

There are millions of dollars on the table to strengthen our region from the merger and it should be used on key locations in conjunction with private sector investment  that can really strengthen our city.

Start with Ball Park. Sell it and make it a tourist park and bright gateway to town instead of the current old permanent van set-ups that  look ugly and lower the tourism look of Corowa (See TripAdvisor reviews for Ball Park).

Get creative with the RSL car park land sale from the railways and use it for a motel at the RSL. This would attract functions weddings and small conferences.

Our Albury mayor Kevin Mack has spoken of an initiative to upgrade roads around and to Thurgoona. This forward vision is commendable; however there are current areas of concern requiring urgent action.

Even with the Albury council’s second attempt, the entry/exit at Thurgoona Drive and Shuter Avenue, and then into Thurgoona Plaza, is a poorly designed debacle. Often traffic trying to exit Thurgoona Plaza or turn right or left into Thurgoona Drive is banked up into the plaza car park.

This situation is exacerbated by vehicles travelling east, intending to turn left into Shuter Avenue, failing to indicate this intention, even having seen the traffic banked at this intersection. 

Entries/exits into both The Thurgoona Country Club and Thurgoona Park, on Thurgoona Drive, have no “pass by” provision.

With rapidly increasing traffic in this corridor, we are presented with a potentially dangerous situation.