ANZAC Commemoration 2024

Birdtalk Magazine June & July 2024
SLIGHTLY LESS people turned out for our ANZAC commemoration this year. A special touch was that we had live music expertly lead by John Darke and a group of strong singers and accompanied by Anita MacKenzie. We were also extremely lucky to have Bob Dawson piping, and bugler (cornet player) Nathan Cocks (who used to work in Piopio) who came down from Kihikihi to play.

As always our own modern service heroes, fire and ambulance brigade members, were immaculately turned out in honour of the occasion. The Parade Commander was Sergeant Thomas Roy. Thomas is nearing the end of his one-year leave from the army and so we were lucky to have him.

The guest speaker was Piopio College head student, Marian Robata, who spoke of the horrors and implications of war and the extreme sacrifice made by our men and women, so that we can enjoy the freedom we have today. This was followed by the beautiful waiata Tai Aroha.

Our thanks to the large number of people who contributed in many ways. Special thanks to the Specialized TM for the road closure, the RSA and Cossi Club for the refreshments after the service, and our expert MC Pam. Rural Women were not the coordinators this year but turned up anyway.

It was disappointing that numbers were down this year and we wouldn’t want the trend to continue. The date is awkward with school holidays and we totally understand that. Any smaller though and it could be difficult to justify closing the road considering the cost and disruption. We welcome any feedback and suggestions. We would particularly like to see a lot more school students to be present to support their leaders.

On a positive note to end, $675 was raised locally for the poppy appeal, impressive!

Jenny Brodie
On behalf of the Piopio ANZAC Committee