Pupils get digging at memorial

Whangarei Intermediate pupils Ben Foon, 12 (left), Evie McLean, 12, and Richard Adams, 11, help with landscaping around the Cenotaph at Laurie Hall Park, while Year 7 teacher Renee Dean watches on. Photo / John Stone

Sixty Whangarei pupils swapped schoolbooks for shovels when they helped with the landscaping of the district's new war memorial.

The Whangarei Intermediate pupils - 30 Year 7s and 30 Year 8s - converged at Laurie Hall Park yesterday to assist council staff with planting of 600 ferns and shrubs.

Each plant represented one of the fallen soldiers whose names were engraved on the memorial, Year 8 teacher and head of Social Studies Colleen Fannin said. There are 470 names on the black granite panels at the back of the memorial and 130 names on the Cenotaph, which was moved to the new site from Rose St.

The new memorial - to be opened officially on March 28 - will be the centre of the district's Anzac Day commemorations, marking the 100th anniversary of New Zealand and Australian forces landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, in World War I.

Ms Fannin said the school had a history of working with the RSA Trust, and decided to help with the planting after being contacted by trust chairman Archie Dixon.

"Archie thought it was nice for them to participate. The kids love it. They could talk to Archie about the purpose of it so it's been a really good learning experience and a great community contribution."

Ben Foon, 12, was stoked to be spending a Tuesday morning in the sunshine digging holes in what was his first gardening experience.

"It's great - beats school. And it's nice to see who represented our country in the wars," he said.

Evie McLean, also 12, helped plant shrubs behind the Cenotaph. "I enjoyed it a lot because it's a good way to get outside and you know you're helping people and doing something for the community."

RSA Trust member and Vietnam and Malaya war veteran Bill Lillicrapp thought the students helping with planting was great. "What we've tried to do, under Archie's guidance, is help educate the children on the sacrifice that has been made in all wars."

The memorial was on track to be unveiled next month, with only the finishing touches - including the planting and the laying of astroturf - starting to be completed now, he said.

"I've been looking forward to this, because the Rose St memorial wasn't the area to do the job properly - to celebrate or remember our war dead. So to see this in a place of prominence in our city is really good," Mr Lillicrapp said.