Griffith Greats: Bill Bunting
Griffith Corp Salvationist Carolyn Flack gives a tribute to former corps officer Bill Bunting.
In January 1978, Envoy Bill Bunting was posted by The Salvation Army to serve in Griffith, as Commanding Officer, with his wife, Laurel.
The Griffith Salvation Army premises at that time were very ordinary, with the quarters next door and a very small hall with the tiniest kitchen you could imagine. One of the first calls of duty for these corps officers was to build up the church family. In order to attract more people to our church, the premises needed to be upgraded and made attractive for people to come and worship.
Bill, who was bron in Motherwell, Scotland, in 1941, was a bricklayer before becoming a Salvation Army officer. On arriving in Griffith, he took a great interest in the landscaping and beautifying of the grounds. The rock-edged rose gardens, which were some of the best in Griffith at the time, were designed and constructed by Bill.
In 1978, Bill was on a recruiting drive to enrol new members for our church, and it was in October of that year that he, and Laurel, were responsible for my enrolment as a senior soldier of Griffith Corps, and later Home League Secretary.
During his time as Commanding Officer, Bill arranged several fellowship trips to neighbouring Leeton Corps and built up the Sunday YP. Every Sunday he would drive around town, in his own car, to collect the children for Sunday school and take them home afterwards. Some of the children had difficulty calling him “Envoy”. My own son, Bradley, referred to him as “Convoy” and later most people affectionately called him “Tank Commander”.
Bill could see the desperate need for a bigger vehicle to transport the children and Home League ladies around and approached my husband, Allan, to help in the search for a suitably-priced vehicle. Allan, with the assistance of Norm Murphy, from MTN Television, located a 1970 Toyota commuter bus around Griffith. Local panel beater Ron Inglis donated his time and costs in preparing this vehicle for use as a bus for Griffith Corps. A bus fund was commenced and many locals contributed to the running of the vehicle.
