The Dawn Service and main service marches on Anzac Day will be restricted to past and present servicemen and women, with a separate ceremony on the preceding Friday to give school leaders from across the region the chance to lay a wreath at the War Memorial Carillon in Kings Parade.

The Bathurst RSL Sub Branch is also asking people to stay away, where possible, to help comply with COVID safety measure, or to at least practise good social distancing if they do wish to attend.

Because Anzac Day is not a ticketed event it is much harder for the organisers to exercise control over numbers than at, say, a rugby league match, and so they are left to rely on the community's co-operation and good sense to make it work safely.

While there is something special about watching young school children joining in the Anzac Day march with veterans, and in seeing community and service groups take their place as well, a march comprising only servicemen and women is also something to treasure.

And as the number of World War 2 veterans dwindles each year, we should take every chance we get as a community to show them our thanks.

But whether we come together as a city around the carillon or stand as individual family units at the end of our driveway, what matters on Anzac Day is that we simply take the time to remember and reflect.

Regardless of how we commemorate it, Anzac Day remains an opportunity to impress upon a new generation the horrors of war and the incredible sacrifices made by so many to ensure this nation's liberty, and to hope we never see such horrors again.

Lest we forget.

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