Kate Spencer with the Mayor of Wellington before returning to England to organise Anzac service. Photo / Supplied
Kate Spencer with the Mayor of Wellington before returning to England to organise Anzac service. Photo / Supplied
Kate Spencer, former Midweek editor and reporter, left the Chronicle office in 2009 to go travelling.
Since then she has been busy, having adventures all over the world, including the UK.
Her latest venture involved holding Harrogate's first Anzac Day commemoration.
"I joined Harrogate International Partnerships (HIP) in 2020, two years after arriving in North Yorkshire," she says.
"It's a twinning association and I became responsible for the twinning between Harrogate and our sister city of Wellington. This twinning has been in place since 1953 to honour 23 of our Royal New Zealand Air Force crew who died in England during World War II.
"They are buried in Stonefall Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery (CWGC) in Harrogate which holds more than 1000 (almost all) airmen. We have Canadians there, 97 Australians and 23 Kiwis.
"We also have a garden in Harrogate called The New Zealand Garden which honours these airmen. In 2010 it was refurbished and Ray Ahipene Masters (ex Wellington Council) came over to Harrogate for the occasion as a Pou Whenua was sent by Wellington for the garden."
Kate had previously visited the cemetery and discovered four Wellingtonians were buried there. HIP adopted their graves. She also discovered that there had never been an Anzac ceremony to honour these men.
"When in New Zealand I decided to find out more about these airmen and it turned into a small book.
"I arrived in NZ in late October and then travelled to Wellington where I had a meeting with Andy Foster on Thursday, December 9 and presented him with some gifts from our mayor in Harrogate.
"I presented this book to Mayor Foster in Wellington and was entertained as a delegate by the International Relationships manager Tom Yuan. This has since been published on the Wellington City Council website. We also had discussions about our 70th anniversary of the twinning for next year."
Kate made an appointment to meet with the RNZAF at Defence headquarters in Wellington and met with Group Captain Mike Cannon of the RNZAF and gave him a copy of the book.
"I informed both Mayor Foster and Group Captain Cannon that I intended to arrange an Anzac ceremony [at Stonefall]. Both have been 100 per cent behind me and supportive, as have their comms department — Catherine at the Council and Geoff Davies at RNZAF.
"During my time in Wellington, I also worked on initiating a school liaison between Scots College in Wellington and Harrogate Grammar School. This is now in place.
"Following all these official engagements, I prepared for a 30-minute Radio Interview with Graeme Joyes of Coast Access Radio about my trip to New Zealand, the airmen and the Anzac parade. This can be found on their website."
Kate returned to England in January and, in three short months, organised the Anzac ceremony with help from the CWGC.
It was held on Sunday, April 24, at Stonefall Cemetery: at that time it was Anzac Day, April 25 on the other side of the world.
Kate organised all the speeches, the programme, chose the music, found a singer from Harrogate Grammar school and made sure the ceremony had representation from the Aussies in the form of Commander Matthew Radford of the Royal Australian Navy, who came up from Wellington, and Sub Lieutenant Andrew Chisholm of the Royal New Zealand Navy who travelled from Scotland.
Commander Radford RAN and SL Chisholm of RNZN with MP Andrew Jones at the Anzac ceremony at Stonefall. Photo / Supplied
Dignitaries, including Kate Spencer, prepare to lay wreaths at the Anzac ceremony in Harrogate, UK. Photo / Supplied
The list of dignitaries, cadets and other people taking part, making speeches, leading songs, giving readings, laying wreaths and making this an occasion to remember were many.
Kate also laid a wreath on behalf of the New Zealand High Commission, and also gave a speech as a New Zealand and UK citizen. She read excerpts from soldiers' letters, spoke on her own behalf and read a speech from Wellington Mayor Andy Foster.
She thanked a lot of people who helped make the ceremony happen and ended by quoting Sir Edmund Hillary - "It is not the mountain we conquer … but ourselves."
That ceremony and the part she played has generated positive feedback from people all over the world, especially New Zealand.
