Claire Bibby and her son Mac McCardle by the new Rimutaka Crossing monument at the Rimutaka Hill summit. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Claire Bibby and her son Mac McCardle by the new Rimutaka Crossing monument at the Rimutaka Hill summit. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
On Sunday Wairarapa Archive and Fraser Books launches A Long, Long Trail: Marching over the Rimutaka Hill, 1915-1918 and the Re-enactment march, September 2015. Author Neil Frances talks to Claire Bibby, one of the re-enactment marchers.
Claire Bibby is a long-serving policewoman. She heard about the re-enactment march from the WW100 website, the official commemoration site of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. She knew of the wartime marches although she had not found anything written about them or seen other photos.
"I have wanted to do that walk ever since I was a child and listened to the family talking about the photograph of my grandfather (Ted Bibby) on the Rimutaka Summit. Every time I travel over the Rimutakas I think about him on that walk and wonder about that march."
She was excited by the prospect and invited her daughter and son to accompany her. Son Mac McCardle agreed. Claire keeps fit for her job but did extra walking.
"Once I got up early and walked at 4am to see what it was like walking in the dark and cold. I was not successful in getting any similar commitment from my son!"
Her grandfather, Edward Stuart Bibby (39937) of the 23rd Reinforcement, came from Waipawa. He wrote diaries and letters, now held at Alexander Turnbull Library, telling of his service on the Western Front. After the war Ted farmed at Ongaonga where he married and brought up six children. He was a local identity, awarded the MBE in 1974.
"I was brought up knowing about my grandfather's service. He was an infantry runner... chosen after he was observed running very fast with the rugby ball and for his ability to get through tight places... In old age he returned to France to visit the war grave of a friend and found a bunker he had occupied, still there."
Claire had to plan her weekend, arriving in Featherston on Saturday afternoon.
"I went to the cemetery to pay homage to the soldiers buried there, and to Greytown Soldiers Memorial Park. My base was in Greytown. Mac arrived at 9.30pm -- I was so pleased to see him as I was getting worried he wasn't going to make it. He promptly went to sleep but I was too excited. We were one of the first cars to arrive at the meeting point -- a paddock opposite the Featherston Camp memorial.
"We met up with an ex-military man who told us the energy of the marchers would carry us along. Hilton Dickens, who is 82, said the same thing. He and the other octogenarian (Roger Frazer) were an inspiration."
The first leg was from Featherston Camp to the war memorial in Featherston.
"In the darkness you could hear the swish of feet... we didn't really march to Featherston, it was a sprint, much too fast. The locals were standing outside their front gates, clapping as we marched through. It was so humbling."
Ted Bibby, front centre, and 23rd Reinforcement soldiers take a break during their summit trek on February 15, 1917. PHOTOS/SUPPLIED
After a brief ceremony and the Last Post, the column marched towards the Rimutaka Hill. Claire and others still found the pace too swift.
"The RSM had to run up and down the ranks in an attempt to keep people together... so at a racing marching pace we swept into the layby at the twin bridges. There were supplies for us, boxes of fresh fruit, muesli bars and water."
"From there we swung off up the hill and this was the special part of the walk. Mac and I marched up the front as I knew from experience that's the best place to be. About three-quarters of the way up we marched around a corner and the moon was there, right in front of us. As marchers walked around the corner they were stopped in their tracks in awe and surprise. We came to rocky cliff faces... you could see the silhouettes of the soldiers dressed in WWI kit reflected on the rock and there was something spiritual about that, as if the soldiers of the past were marching with us."
Although Claire felt the re-enactment was well-organised and energising, she had doubts about the way it was portrayed on television and in newspapers.
"I felt the news media did not properly capture the event. They did not show the large number of (non-uniformed) women and men marching and the efforts of the support teams. If you were not wearing uniform you were invisible.
"Interestingly, the photography is typical of how the Rimutaka march was represented 100 years ago -- not much has changed really!'
