Three new names are set to be unveiled on Kaihere’s community memorial wall as part of the rural Hauraki Plains town’s Anzac Day commemorations.
The memorial wall, which was dedicated in April, 2006, sits outside the Kaihere Community Hall. Its purpose is to acknowledge and remember departed residents of Kaihere.
Alongside it are the town’s original war memorial – a stone cairn from the 1920s bearing the names of two locals who lost their lives in World War I – and a second cairn honouring the fallen men of World War II.
Kaihere Hall and Community Society committee member Lorraine Williams said the locals were proud of their community camaraderie, and the annual Anzac Day commemorations and additions to the memorial wall were a key part of that.
“We’ve had Anzac services here at Kaihere for many, many years, originally shared year by year with the Pātetonga community,” she said.
“We have our local school students from the Kaihere school usually say or do something… We in Kaihere are very proud of our hall, pavilion, memorial wall and school.”
One of the three people to be commemorated on the memorial wall this year is a long-time local who spent his childhood and early years in Kaihere, and requested shortly before his death last year to be added to the wall, Lorraine said.
The other two names belong to a former headmaster and his wife, who spent a decade dedicated to the community’s school, church and other groups.
The committee did not wish the names to be published.
DETAILS: Kaihere Anzac Day service and memorial wall unveiling, April 25, 9.30am at Kaihere Community Hall, followed by tea, coffee and Anzac biscuits.
