War memorial should not remind of commerce

The original Woy Woy War Memorial pool was opened in 1968 after local citizens raised the initial seeding funds to establish a public swimming pool and a memorial to Australians who served their country in war.

Two distinguished was veterans Sir Roden Cutler VC and Prime Minister Sir John Gorton participated in the opening ceremony.

The War Memorial Swimming Centre was still in good condition and functioning as a popular sporting amenity in 2003.

Gosford Council ignored requests from many groups and individuals to maintain it but council closed the gate on March 28, 2003, and acted with indecent haste to destroy everything on the site.

By Anzac Day in 2003, the site looked like a World War I battlefield.

The extravagant Peninsula Leisure Centre which was erected on the site ran well over budget and cost about $26 million and has since lost about $1 million a year in running costs.

Only after strong representations from veterans' organisations did Gosford Council locate a new war memorial panel in the foyer at the side entrance as a token of its obligation to preserve the tradition of the site as a war memorial.

The memorial panel was soon overshadowed by several brightly illuminated refrigerated vending machines located strategically to market Coca Cola products and confectionary loaded with high levels of fat and sugar.

The vending machines also marketed and retailed bottled water at $3 per litre for the profit of Coca Cola which harvests 35 megalitres from groundwater at little cost to the company.

Unconcerned about defiling an altar, Gosford Council allowed a private advertiser to sell advertising space on the walls of the war memorial pool to commercial businesses.

Members of the public who pay to use the public facilities should not be used as a captive audience for commercial advertising on public land.

The Woy Woy War Memorial Pool is there for the enjoyment of the public and to remind is what former generations have done for Australia.

It is not there to remind us what Gosford Council is doing for Coca Cola.

John Collins, Woy Woy