The MELL BUN Cup Again. Historic 1945 Cup.

      Well that's the way it is pronounced by most of the locals, although the Melbourne cup is a flat race in Australia, it is revered closely to that of the English 4.5 mile race over the sticks "Grand National in England.
Recently (yesterday)I read a cricket report of a Tasmanian Bowler taking Five NSW Wickets.
BTW.(If you are an American or from outer space you will be confused by this )
The Tasmanian Bowler Who took five wickets including that of the Aus test team captain was named 'Rainbird', an unusual name by all accounts , However, it rang a bell for me.
The following is an excerpt from my memoirs.

.

Mrs Fraser’s son, Bob was serving on the Australian Destroyer HMAS

Nizam the D15. It accompanied us on our visits to the Japanese conflict

up north. Bob gave me the address of a nice lady, aged eighteen, who

lived in Richmond, Melbourne when we were there quite by chance (or

so we were told) when the Melbourne Cup was held after the war on 6

November 1945.

At the time, I had one arm and an entire leg in plaster casts due to a

serious accident, it was also strange that a member of our crew bore the

same name as one of the horses in the race ‘Rainbird’

The bookie said “Yeah okay, Jack. I’ll take your bet” and stated that

I’d stand a better chance of winning the Melbourne Cup on crutches than

I would with a Sydney jockey on a South Australian horse which had

recently escaped from the knackers yard.   After ‘Rainbird’ beat the field

with Billy Cook on board, I felt quite smug. The odds were about twelve

to one, I think. These winnings were added to from my 14/1 each way

bet on the third horse to finish, its name ‘Leonard’ I just could not resist,

but my first ever bet and win never made me addicted to the sport.

 

 

 

A good memory resists the aging process providing you have something to remember

 

Vest... Back soon.