Anzac Day preparations in full swing in Tararua

Members of the Women's Section of Dannevirke RSA Ann Berry (left), president Verna Hutching, vice-president Jill Ross and Christine Littlejohn. Photo / Sue Emeny

Volunteers will be hitting the streets of Tararua on Friday for Poppy Day, which provides vital funding for the Returned Servicemen's Association.

Members of the Women's Section of RSA, along with some of their male counterparts, will be selling poppies from five locations around Dannevirke from 8.30am until 3pm.

It's a busy time for members of the Women's Section as just prior to Easter they placed 900 poppies on the graves of RSA members.

The poppies members of the Women's Section of the Dannevirke RSA place on the graves of RSA members each year.

On Anzac Day they will be handing out poppies and programmes at the civic service and laying a wreath.

Plans for Anzac services are well in hand, according to Dannevirke and Districts RSA president Roly Ellis.

"Each year there are more and more people attending the services so they do take a lot more organising," he said.

Anzac Day services in Dannevirke start with the Dawn Parade.

RSA members will form up at 5.45am on the corner of High and Christian Sts and march to the Dannevirke Domain cenotaph where the service will begin at 6am.

The escalating cost of road closures and traffic management means there will be a major change to the civic service in Dannevirke.

There will no longer be a parade along High St, from the Knox Church to the Dannevirke Domain, for the 9am service.

All organisations that wish to march are asked to form up on the footpath near the children's playground at the domain.

Ellis said there would be a Maori warden and a police officer stationed at the start point of the parade.

The parade will march off at 8.45am to the cenotaph where the usual Anzac Day service will be held.

"It would be very helpful if the people attending could keep off the footpath where soldiers from the New Zealand Army usually halt as the parade will halt there," Ellis said.

"We need to make sure the main gate into the Domain is kept clear so the wreath layers, of which there are expected to be around 20, can form up facing the cenotaph."

RSA committee member Bruce Charmley will be directing the wreath layers.

At previous Anzac Day ceremonies, members of the 1st Battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment generally attend but because of soldiers being deployed to Covid quarantine sites this year there will only be a small squad of six soldiers at the dawn service.

Other services will be held at Norsewood, Ormondville, Whetakura, Makotuku, Weber, Pongaroa and Wimbledon.

The service at Wimbledon will include the unveiling of a new plaque on the war memorial that honours the people who served and, following the end of the war, returned to the then-Wimbledon District and made their homes there.

They are Mick Buchanan, Ray Ross, Trevor Rowlands, Graeme Speedy, Alan M Speedy and Phil Speedy.

It is expected that support for this year's Anzac Day services will be strong following the cancellation of last year's through Covid lockdown.

Dannevirke RSA produced an amazing online service and many people stood at their gates at 6am as a personal tribute.