Operation Saddler

The 21st & 22nd of this month saw a whirlwind of activity not normally seen in a small country town like Tenterfield. Hosting the first of a series of regional NSW counter terrorism exercises, Tenterfield found itself right in the thick of it.

With more that 100 staff and resources gleamed from the NSW Police, Fire, Ambulance, RFS, SES and Health plus onlookers from some of the Queensland emergency services it proved to be one of the most interesting exercises I have ever been involved in.

As usual I was stuck in the kitchen .... but you will see from the gallery http://www.tentergrafix.com.au/events.html I did escape a couple of times!

Catering requirements became a challenge as the hours went by - Friday was a mild day weather-wise until lunch time when the heavens opened - thank goodness for a 4-bay shed. Covers for the day were about 80 - though it did start at 40! Morning Tea and lunch was out in the field on Saturday complete with sunshine. We fed approx 130. Lots of empty plates and folk coming back for seconds!

Tracy Grimshaw and the 'A Current Affair' team were embedded within the exercise for the two days and with any luck within the next week or so their program will go to air.