100-Day Tribute to 100-Year Anniversary of Gallipoli

Marlborough’s 100-Day Tribute to 100-Year Anniversary of Gallipoli

Next week will be the last week that the sound of the cornet will ring out the Last Post from the steps of Blenheim’s war memorial at 6pm as the special 100-year tribute to Marlborough’s fallen servicemen reaches its 100th day.

Blenheim bandsman Denis Teeling has played the notes each night in the brief ceremony at which the names of Marlborough casualties are read aloud.

Numbers have continued to build since the first evening and the ceremonies have brought visitors from Tauranga, Hamilton, Wanganui and Christchurch who have made the trip to hear the names of family members recalled.

The biggest turnout to date was earlier this month when Springlands School pupils, 10 of them wearing medals, and their families attended, swelling the audience to almost six hundred.

Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman who has been present several times each week, says it was an original concept that has captured the interest of, not only the direct families, but the wider public and visitors to Blenheim.

“Denis has created Marlborough’s own special opportunity to mark the 100 years since Gallipoli in our own original way and he has shown great commitment to come out for 100 consecutive evenings,” said Mr Sowman.

“Even more importantly, Denis has achieved what he set out to do; acknowledge that each and every one of our casualties were individuals who were lost to our province.”

Marlborough RSA President John Forrest says there had been some very touching moments; the woman from Hamilton who was three months old when her father was killed, who travelled down for the ceremony, and the little family reunions that have occurred as various relations have gathered to hear a family member’s name read out. Family stories and family connections discovered were being re-discovered as a result of the event, he said.

Each night, the Ode is read after the names and a poppy pinned onto the cenotaph to represent each serviceman.

The last night will be Friday 24th April, the night before ANZAC Day, when the names of the last seven servicemen, W to Y, will be read out. Defence and diplomatic dignitaries in Marlborough for the ANZAC Day ceremony will also attend that service.

The two First World War veterans to be recalled on the last evening will be Private Albert Henry Wooster of the NZ Rifle Brigade, from Omaka, who died in France and Sgt Horace William Yaxley of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, from Kaikoura, who died in Egypt.

ENDS

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