Given her late husband Peter was the man responsible for creating it, Cruickshank Park in Yarraville is a special place for Lola Anderson.
And given her son Darren served in uniform for more than 40 years, Blue Ribbon Day on September 29, is a special occasion for her too.
And since late husband’s passing two years ago, the 86-year=old has brought the two together, decorating Peter’s memorial gazebo in Cruickshank Park in police colours to honour the work of her son and thousands of other officers, especially those killed on duty.
This year, she even went down to Footscray Police station to get some help with the decorations.
“Apparently, the police force have a special branch for Blue Ribbon Day,” Ms Anderson said.
“They gave me a phone number for this special branch that look after this sort of thing and they sent me blue ribbons and posters of the commissioner.”
Unfortunately, the close proximity of Police Remembrance Day to AFL Grand Final Day did result in the blue and white decorations causing some confusion.
“Someone thought it was for the Geelong Football Club,” laughed Ms Anderson.
Sadly, the motivation behind Blue Ribbon Day is no laughing matter at all, especially this year, coming so soon after two police officers were killed in Porepunkah in Victoria’s high country.
“I was going to do it, but that (the killing of the two police) made it more important to do it, to let people know what the police force is there for, what they’ve got to put up with,” Ms Anderson said.
