Anzac Day: Hawke’s Bay remembers with more than 30 services

More than 30 public Anzac Day services will be held throughout Hawke’s Bay on Thursday.

They start with dawn parades forming at 5.45am and continue with civic and church services throughout the morning and into the early afternoon.

Veterans, led by pipes and drums, march to the Marine Parade Sound Shell, in Napier, for an Anzac Day dawn service. Photo / Warren Buckland

Among the biggest is expected to be the Napier dawn service at the Sound Shell on Marine Parade, which well over 1000 people traditionally attend.

The Napier civic service will be held later in the morning at the Cenotaph, Memorial Square, while the Hastings dawn service at the Civic Square, a late-morning service at the Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital and the civic service in Havelock North are expected to be well attended on Thursday too.

For some, the commemorations go offshore, as far away as the fields where thousands died in the service of their country in Europe.

A service of particular significance will be at Nūhaka’s Kahungunu Marae, marking the 75th anniversary of the marae that was planned following World War II and which opened in 1949.

The Kahungunu Memorial whare whakairo (carved meeting house) was built as a monument to the men from the Nūhaka and Mahia areas who served their country in the two World Wars and succeeding wars.

Young war veterans returned from the war in Egypt and Europe and carved many of the whakairo (carvings) in the marae under the tutelage of master carver Pine Taiapa, one being of the unknown soldier, recognising all those who died in the war.

A range of speakers will be at the services, ranging from mayors and other community leaders to services representatives and high school students.

Supermarkets and other businesses are generally unable to open before 1pm on Anzac Day.

Anzac Day Services

Napier:

6am, dawn service, Napier Soundshell; 11am, Napier RSA Anzac Civic Service, Memorial Square Cenotaph, Napier.

Taradale: 6am, dawn service, Lone Pine Cemetery, Puketapu Rd; 8.45am, memorial service with wreath-laying ceremony, march from Taradale PaperPlus to Taradale Clock Tower (service starts at 9am).

Hastings District:

Hastings: 6.30am, dawn service, Civic Square, Hastings; 10am, Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital.

Waimarama: 6.30am, Waimarama Memorial Hall

Havelock North: 9am, Havelock North Cenotaph.

Clive: 9.30am, Clive Cenotaph.

Maraekakaho: 9.30am, Maraekakaho Hall.

Rissington: 11am, Rissington.

Wairoa:

Wairoa Civic Service: 11.45am, The Cenotaph, Locke St.

Kaiuku Marae, Mahia: 5.45am, dawn service.

Taihoa Marae: 8.30am.

Frasertown: 10am, civic service, 10am.

Nūhaka: 10am, Kahungunu Marae 75th anniversary service.

Central Hawke’s Bay District:

Waipukurau: 5.45am, dawn service formation; Memorial Hall carpark; 6am, service at the War Memorial Cenotaph.

Otāne: 5.45am dawn service, Otāne Hall Cenotaph, Higginson Street, Otāne.

Pōrangahau: 5.45am dawn service, Pōrangahau Hall, Abercromby Street, Pōrangahau.

Hatuma: 9am, Hatuma Road Memorial.

Ongaonga: 9am, Cenotaph, Bridge Street, Ongaonga.

Tikokino: 9am, Tikokino Hall Cenotaph, Owen Street, Tikokino.

Ōmakere: 9am, Church Hall, Pourerere Road, Ōmakere

Ōmakere: 9am, Church Hall, Pourerere Road, Ōmakere.

Elsthorpe: 9am, Church Cenotaph, Kenderdine Road, Elsthorpe.

Takapau: 10am, Cenotaph, Charlotte Street, Takapau.

Waipawa: 11am, CHB Municipal Theatre, Kenilworth Street, Waipawa, then march to Memorial Clock Tower Cenotaph.

Tararua District:

Dannevirke: 5.45am, dawn service, Dannevirke Cenotaph, Upper Domain, 8.30am, civic service at the Cenotaph

Weber: 10.30am, community service, at the Cenotaph (near Weber School).

Wimbledon: 9am, community service.ration at the Cenotaph.

Wimbledon: 9am, Community service.

Norsewood: 10.20am, parade formation, Boer War Memorial; 10.30am, Civic Service, at the Cenotaph.

Ormondville: noon, service at the Church of the Epiphany.

Makotuku: 1.30pm, Makotuku Public Hall.

Woodville: 5.50am, parade formation and dawn service, Fountaine Square; 7am, service at the Woodville Services Lawn Cemetery; 10am, civic service, Fountaine Square.