Alternative Anzac Day commemorations in Whanganui planned in lieu of RSA event

Hart said the RSA had thousands attend services in previous years and he did not think the space around the War Memorial Centre could keep people safe from Covid-19. Photo / Lewis Gardner

An alternative Anzac Day service has been planned after the Wanganui RSA decided to pull its event over Covid-19 safety concerns.

But the Wanganui RSA president Rod Hart is warning its veterans not to confuse it with the official service.

An event has been touted on Whanganui community pages on social media with a poster saying attendees would march together from the Memorial Hall carpark to the Cenotaph at 6am on Monday, April 25.

A poster for the alternative Anzac Day commemorative event that has appeared on social media. Photo / Supplied

Those who wish to could then go to restaurant Bula Bure for coffee, rum, speeches and breakfast afterwards, the poster says.

Hart said he was concerned people would mistake the new event with his organisation's usual one.

"They've made it look like an official event and it's certainly not," he said.

He said he hoped the organisers of the new event had considered the risks.

"If we were to run it, we'd have thousands of people."

He said Covid-19 was currently rampant in Whanganui and the risk to veterans, in particular, was too high.

"I'd be very disappointed if our veterans thought it was the real thing - and turned up and got sick and died from it."

Hart said the RSA had up to 10,000 people attend services in previous years and he did not think the space around the War Memorial Centre could keep people safe from a potential Covid-19 super spreader event.

He said he did expect the new event to be much smaller than the RSA's usual affair, therefore reducing the risk of Covid-19 spread.

Rod Hart was concerned veterans might confuse the new Anzac Day service with the now cancelled official event. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Typically the RSA would work with the Whanganui District Council and police around using facilities at the War Memorial Centre and having a secure traffic management plan in place, Hart said.

A Whanganui District Council spokesperson, when shown the poster for the new event, said the council had no involvement in it.

"The organisers have made no arrangements for traffic management for this event.

"Any further queries should be directed to the organiser of this event and the hosting venue."

Bula Bure was also offering rum and coffee to customers who went there on Anzac Day, but the council spokesperson said the restaurant did not have a current liquor licence to serve alcohol before 1pm on April 25.

"The business in this matter can only serve alcohol as per the conditions of their licence."

He said they would be able to apply for a special licence to be allowed to serve alcohol at that time.

Bula Bure said it was working with the council "around any requirements we need" to be able to serve customers on Anzac Day.

The only contact information on the Anzac Day poster is for the Bula Bure restaurant for people to book for the breakfast.

One of the owners of Bula Bure, Ashleigh Dari, said she was only involved in organising the breakfast.

"I'm not putting it on - this is not an event that I personally have arranged on my own.

"As far as I know it's the people that have organised it. We are just a business that would have been open anyway - hosting a breakfast.

"It's just a group of people that want to honour their forefathers."

Dari said she expected there would be many who did not think the risk of Covid-19 was enough to cancel an Anzac Day service.

"I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people that are pretty teed off their grandfathers - [a service] honouring them have been cancelled because of [Covid-19]."

Club Metro, which is an amalgamation of the RSA and Cosmopolitan clubs, would also be open on the morning of Anzac Day, offering a tot of rum and full breakfast.

Both events have to be limited to 200 people under the Government's Covid-19 restrictions.

Hart said he wanted people to be aware there may not be room for everyone at the Club Metro breakfast.