Canada Bay Council introduces new policy following blunder with Anzac Day banners

‘Lest we forgot’: Council vows to ‘copy check’ all its flags after embarrassing Anzac Day blunder

  • Local council brought in new spell check policy after Anzac Day banner gaffe
  • Canada Bay Council unfurled 30 flags that had incorrect words, ‘Lest We Forgot’
  • The council’s media team will check all text in future before sending it to print
  • General manager Peter Gainsford apologised to RSL for offence from mistake 

A local council has brought in a new policy following an embarrassing blunder on its Anzac Day flags.

Canada Bay Council, in Sydney’s inner-west, will introduce a new copy check component after it rolled out flags with the phrase ‘Lest We Forgot’ in April.

Thirty flags were unfurled at Five Dock, Concord and Drummoyne, with service men pictured next to the incorrect wording – which should have read, ‘Lest We Forget’.

‘Lest we forget’ is a phrase commonly used in war remembrance ceremonies, such as Anzac Day on April 25 and Remembrance Day on November 11. 

Canada Bay Council, in Sydney’s inner-west, will introduce a new copy check component after it rolled out flags with the phrase ‘Lest We Forgot’ earlier this year (pictured, the misspelled flags were promptly brought down after they were raised earlier this year) 

‘The correct approvals process was not followed and the new banner policy ensures that there are mechanisms in place to ensure the mistake cannot be made again,’ general manager Peter Gainsford  told The Daily Telegraph.

The banners were removed within a matter of hours after council was notified of the stuff-up and promptly apologised to the RSL. 

‘Surprisingly, many comments on social media were empathetic to the individual responsible and the RSL representatives were thankful for the quick response from council staff who removed every offending banner from our streets within two hours of us learning of the error,’ Mr Grainsford said. 

The local council has blamed the misspelling on miscommunication between one of its employees and a local printing company.

A spokesperson said the council would no longer use the same company. 

The media team must also first approve any text, before it is sent off to print. 

Five Dock RSL sub-branch president Robert Ridge said the club maintained a good relationship with council. 

He said it was ‘good to know the council has now got the right checks and balances to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

While harmony may be restored, outraged social media users took to Facebook at the time to air their frustration at the gaffe. 

 ‘How hard is it to proof read,’ one user wrote.

Another social media user added: ‘Totally unacceptable take them down, just appalling, an insult to all who served!’ 

'The correct approvals process was not followed and the new banner policy ensures that there are mechanisms in place to ensure the mistake cannot be made again,' general manager Peter Gainsford said

‘The correct approvals process was not followed and the new banner policy ensures that there are mechanisms in place to ensure the mistake cannot be made again,’ general manager Peter Gainsford said

Outraged social media users took to Facebook to express their anger at the banner's mistake at the time

Outraged social media users took to Facebook to express their anger at the banner’s mistake at the time

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk