The celebrations for Greek National Day at the Greek Community of Melbourne’s (GCM) Melbourne campus on Saturday, March 22 were bright and strongly Hellenic.
Children from prep through to VCE, moved the 200 person crowd with speeches, monologues, theatre and dances. Our teachers, led by Maria Bakalidou, choreographed a terrific program.
Through the invitation of the Victorian Hellenic Police Association’s Inspector Andrew Markakis, also present were members of the Hellenic Police Athletic Association who were in Melbourne for the 25th of March Parade to take place adjacent to the Shrine of Remembrance. The Hellenic Police Athletic Association was founded to inspire its members to pursue community athletic programs within Greece and throughout Europe.
In thanking the Hellenic Police Athletic Assoc, President of the GCM Bill Papastergiadis OAM along with Anthea Sidiropoulos and Dr Demetriou, noted that the symbol of their Assoc (the discus thrower Discobolus) was also the defining feature of the façade of our 15 storey Cultural Centre.
Mr Papastergiadis said, “Discobolus celebrates the skill of athletes and the spirit that is exhibited in games. The GCM understands that many of its members pursue excellence in sport and that the GCM to stay relevant needs to meet this changing environment. Hence, the GCM expanded its outreach into our community by initiating Men’s and Women’s Football Cups emphasising that sport, along with our rich cultural and educational programs, unite us all.”
Mr Papastergiadis also referenced his chance meeting with the President of the Hellenic Athletic Assoc last year in Athens, George Tzatzakis.
“I met George and instantly formed a strong bond. His commitment to using sport to bring people together was clear,” Mr Papastergiadis said.
In the course of the performance, GCM students moved everyone with a number of songs. Whilst the students sang “The Marbled King,” Dimitris Avanidis, one of the members from Greece, turned to Mr Ppastergiadis and said, “I am deeply moved by this as my young daughter will be performing this song tomorrow in Athens as part of her school’s Greek National Day event.”
Mr Tzatzakis, in his brief address, said, “our Association is honoured to be invited by the Victorian Hellenic Police Assoc to participate in the event of the Greek National Day. Since arriving, we have felt the warmth and love from all of the Greeks here.”
“I am in awe of the work by the Greek Community of Melbourne in building its 15 storey Cultural Centre. This is a beacon for all of us and we are proud to see it in person. The students of the GCM’s school are our true stars as we know many of them are third generation Greek Australians, yet with the help of their teachers they are keeping alive the language and the Hellenic spirit. The quality of the performance today by the children was beyond our expectation,” Mr Tzatzakis added.
Inspector Markakis said, “it’s a great honour to host our colleagues from the Hellenic Athletic Police Assoc who will also participate in the National Day Parade. Our hearts are filled with pride that they made the trip to Melbourne.”
Also from Greece were Ioannis Drakopoulos, Apostolos Soulos and Constantinos Zakestidis.
