The 17-year-old Terang College student will fly to Brussels in September to play the pipes at various war memorials and cemeteries.

Liam will perform at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, where the names of 6000 missing Australian soldiers are engraved on the walls, on September 21. 

Liam said he was incredibly honoured.

“I’m used to playing in front of a lot of people but not to this scale,” he said.

“When I was offered the opportunity to pipe at some of the places where our soldiers had been I was more than keen. 

“I’m too excited to feel nervous right now, but I’ll no doubt be shaking a little bit when I actually get there.”

Liam has been learning and performing the bagpipes for eight years.

He will travel overseas with Terang RSL sub-branch president Steve Bloxham, vice-president and Vietnam War veteran Terry Fidge and members Pat Lyons and John Fletcher. 

Mr Bloxham said the tour group would stop over at several cemeteries to visit the graves of 34 fallen soldiers with links to the region.

He said members of the RSL would lay a poppy and small memorial cross on each grave. Liam will play the bagpipes, with classics to include Danny Boy and Amazing Grace. 

“We will pay our respects on behalf of both the Terang RSL and the community,” Mr Bloxham said. “It’s a pilgrim for those who didn’t come home and left their families behind.”

The trip will be Mr Bloxham’s 14^th visit to Belgium.

He said the tour group would attend the 101st anniversary commemoration ceremony battle for Polygon Wood and travel to northern France, where Liam will perform for a group of students at the Villers-Bretonneux School, now referred to as Victoria College.

Mr Bloxham will head overseas in August to publicise the events. 

The trip will be filmed and shown at the Terang RSL Hall later this year. 

When you first arrive at the Terang RSL hall you’d never expect to find the secret gem that’s hidden behind a hessian curtain. 

A First World War diggers’ dugout is tucked away in what was previously the hall’s disused bar and is believed to be the only one in Australia inside an RSL hall.

Dugouts, usually sited close to the trench line and often within or below the trench wall, were used as a form of underground shelter and rest for both troops and officers.  

The dugout is furnished as it would have been during the war and reflects life as it was during those times.

Watch as Terang RSL sub-branch president Steve Bloxham takes us on a tour of the diggers’ dugout, which is well utilised by local schools and community groups.

While we’ve got you – do you want to make your voice heard before the state election? Here is your chance.