Bledisloe School pupil Kaea Ormsby during the Anzac speech contest. Photo / Paul Taylor
Bledisloe School pupil Kaea Ormsby during the Anzac speech contest. Photo / Paul Taylor
Vietnam veteran Peter Grant says listening to Napier school students share stories they’ve researched about relatives who fought in war is a highlight every year around Anzac Day because they display “so much understanding and empathy”.
Each year, primary and intermediate students from around the Taradale district attend an Anzac speech contest organised by the Greendale Services Association.
This year’s event was held on Friday at Taradale Club and was won by Jake Papuni (Porritt Primary School) in the primary-school section and Terry Fowler (Tamatea Intermediate) in the intermediate section.
Imogen Kernaghan from Taradale Primary School during the speech contest. Photo / Paul Taylor
A proud Peter Grant listens to the students at Taradale Club. Photo / Paul Taylor
“We are just so very proud of all those young people, they take a very difficult and emotional subject and just show so much understanding and empathy, they are just amazing,” Grant, the Greendale Services Association chairman, said.
“What we really try and encourage them to do is to trace their own whakapapa [genealogy] and find their fallen heroes.
“That has many positive aspects to it, they go back into their families and find great grandfathers or uncles who served in war and who passed away.
Jael Collins, of Porritt School, after delivering her Anzac speech. Photo / Paul Taylor
The crowd enjoying the speeches at Taradale Club. Photo / Paul Taylor
“Some came back [from war] but a lot of them find out they have relatives two or three generations back who went to war and died.”
Grant, who is a Vietnam veteran, said it was important to pass on “the baton of remembrance” so future generations never forget the ultimate price their ancestors paid for freedom and peace.
He said local schools hold Anzac speech events then the best students attend the speech contest at Taradale Club.
A special Anzac service is being held at Taradale Clock Tower and war memorial at 11am on Thursday, organised solely by school students. The public is welcome.
