Field of Remembrance in Te Awamutu’s Anzac Green. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
All things going to plan, Waipā’s Armistice commemorations should go like clockwork this weekend.
Perfect weather conditions are predicted and event organisers in both Te Awamutu and Cambridge have arranged a series of events at which people can pay their respects to those who fell in global conflicts, and those who returned.
Te Awamutu RSA committee member Lou Brown said three services were planned for the town and its surrounds.
The first will start at 11am on Saturday at Anzac Green in Te Awamutu, commemorating the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month with addresses and a service.
On Sunday, the annual Armistice Day service at the Pukeatua War Memorial Church will start at 11am.
Brown said the 2023 service will feature the blessing of a new church bell, and the blessing of two shell cases donated by the Hauraki Chapter of the Patriots
Defence Force Motorcycle Club.
The club, made up of former and current servicemen, has a long association with Pukeatua Church and regularly attends Anzac and Armistice Day
commemorations held there.
The two shell cases were donated to replace two candelabras stolen along with
a brass cross early last year.
“The cross was subsequently recovered… thrown back onto the section after those who took it presumably discovered it wasn’t a valuable as they had hoped.
“The Patriots Motorcycle Club asked if they could donate shell casings as a replacement for the candelabras. It is a lovely gesture,” said Brown.
Following a light lunch at Pukeatua – at which the 29th anniversary of the Te Awamutu Cadets will be celebrated – there will a brief service at the grounds of the former Tokanui Hospital, starting around 1.30pm.
“We are doing a small memorial service at the top of the paddock close to where
the hospital once stood.
“Some of those who returned from the Boer War and WW1came back with significant problems and went to Tokanui Hospital. A few of them are laid to rest there.”
Brown said members of the public were welcome to attend any, or all, of the services.
Events in Cambridge will start from 7pm tomorrow (Friday) with an Armistice Salute Concert in the Town Hall, presented by the Cambridge Brass Band. Entry is via a gold coin donation to the Cambridge RSA Welfare Trust.
Cambridge RSA president Tony Hill said the main Armistice Day Civic ceremony will start at 11am on Saturday in the Cambridge Town Hall.
That event, set to be attended by a delegation from Le Quesnoy, will be preceded by the Armistice Day Parade, starting at around 9.30am.
Sunday will see a short Remembrance Sunday ceremony held at the Cambridge Town Hall, starting at 10.50am.
Outside the official events, the annual Armistice in Cambridge events at Mighty River Domain will offer a range of activities for families, from 9.30am to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
The free entry event will feature more than 20 child centric activities, including
archery and rides in a WW2 jeep.
