Poppies in Mount Maunganui to commemorate Anzac Day in 2018. Photo / NZME
Poppies in Mount Maunganui to commemorate Anzac Day in 2018. Photo / NZME
Concerns over Covid-19 could affect attendance numbers at this year's Anzac Day services, local RSA presidents say.
Several memorial and remembrance services will be held across the Bay of Plenty on Monday to commemorate New Zealanders killed in war and to honour returned service personnel.
Pāpāmoa Beach will have its first formal dawn parade service at the Stella Place memorial off Pāpāmoa Beach Rd.
New Zealand is now in the orange traffic light setting, which means there is no limit for indoor or outdoor gatherings. Wearing a face mask is encouraged.
Mount Maunganui Returned and Services' Association president Arthur King said between 8000 and 12,000 people had attended the Mount Maunganui Main Beach cenotaph service in past years.
"There's a lot of people in Pāpāmoa, there's a lot of people that historically come to the Cenotaph, so I'm pretty sure that both services will go off lovely."
King said the past two years of services had been "hard work", with everyone standing at their front doors for an Anzac service in 2020.
He encouraged people to wear masks at the service.
When asked why attending an Anzac Day service was important, King said: "Remember what's happened - you've got to remember the history."
Tauranga RSA president Fred Milligan. Photo / George Novak
Tauranga RSA president Fred Milligan said a dawn service would take place at the RSA.
It would normally get between 1000 and 2000 people for its dawn service "on a good day" but with Covid-19 he was unsure how many people would go.
"Everybody's mindsets have changed so much now ... A lot of people retreated and we've never seen them again.
"There [are] still people who are concerned about attending things because they don't know if people are vaccinated or unvaccinated.
"It's changed the whole of society, we've found."
He said services in the past two years with Covid had not been "terribly good".
Milligan said most of the ex-services people went to services because it was "part of their culture" and a remembrance of their friends.
"And families [go] there to remember their ancestors who went to war.
"Our local lads and lasses - they're most welcome to attend our dawn service."
Pāpāmoa Beach service organiser, resident and ex-navy serviceman Mick O'Carroll said the service will take pressure off the service at the Mount.
"The Mount service continues to grow, and even though Covid has put a damper on things for the past two years we expect the turnout there will be as big as previously."
Katikati Dawn parade from 5.45am to 6.45am from the Talisman Hotel to Katikati War Memorial Hall. Civic service starts at 6.45am at the Katikati War Memorial Hall.
Waihī Beach Dawn parade from 5.45am to 6.30am outside Waihī Beach RSA.
Ōmokoroa Dawn service starts at 6am at Remembrance Cairn, Gerald Crapp Reserve, Ōmokoroa Point. Community service starts at 11am on the forecourt of CHT Acacia Park Home and Hospital, 134 Hamurana Rd.
Te Puke
Te Puke's 106th civic memorial service will start at 10am in Te Puke Memorial Hall. The pre-service parade will fall in opposite the hall at 9.50am. After the service, wreaths will be laid at the cenotaph outside the hall before the parade re-assembles and is led off. Members of the public are invited to the Te Puke Citizens RSA after the event.
Because of concerns around the spread of Covid-19, the traditional parade to the memorial rock at Maketū village green will not take place this year, with the service at the rock starting at 6am.
