Hamilton riders to join Anzac parade

Hamilton's War Horse Comemorative March Group will be riding again on Anzac Day this year. Photo / Paula Stuart photography

Hamilton's Anzac Day services next week will be at the Cenotaph in Memorial Park on Memorial Drive. The dawn service begins at 6am, with the parade leaving Knox St at 5.45am and finishing at around 6.40am, Hamilton City Council says.

The civic parade leaves Knox St at 9.45am with the service being held at 10am and finishing at around 11.15am. Both services go ahead regardless of weather conditions.

There will be two big screens in the park that will show both the dawn and civic services.

More than 5000 poppies will be installed on the corner of Memorial Drive and Anzac Parade again this year, and the Fields of Remembrance Trust will place 350 white crosses in Memorial Park to acknowledge the Hamiltonians lost in conflict.

The council says both the crosses and the poppies will be installed on Friday so people may view them over the weekend.

Following the 10am civic service, people are invited to enjoy a hot drink and an Anzac biscuit while listening to the Hamilton Brass Band.

The boat ramp at Commerce Park, Grantham St, will be closed from 5.30am until 11.30am, or until the end of the commemoration service.

Hamilton's War Horse Commemorative March Group will be riding again on Anzac Day. The annual March is organised by Noeline Jeffries.

Noeline says this year the number of riders has dwindled from 25 to about 12. If anyone is interested in joining the ride phone Noeline on 8477510 (mobile 0278225511). Riders must be 18 or over and horses must be used to being ridden on the road.

The NZ Army and the Waikato Mounted Rifles reserve unit will be playing a full part in the ceremonies as usual in Hamilton as well as in Cambridge and Huntly.

Captain Mike Yelash, of the WMR reserve unit, said that in Hamilton soldiers would be involved in the Dawn Parade and Dawn Service and the Civic Parade and Civic Service as well as providing a Cenotaph guard, an escort officer for the mayor and a parade marshall.

He said the WMR no longer owns any horses and a decision was made some months ago not to include WMR riders in the parade.

There will be an armoured vehicle — a 321 Pinzgauer Light Operational Vehicles — in the parade and the WMR representatives will be carrying the army's new MARS-L assault rifle.