World Day of Peace marked in Whanganui with platoons of paper men and rows of angels

Lola Fisher, 9, down at the Whanganui riverside with her flag of peace. Photo/ Emma Russell

Entire platoons of paper army men and rows of paper angels were in unison with around 30 people at the top of Whanganui's hand span memorial on Thursday - all in recognition of World Day of Peace.

After a minute of silence at the memorial, located at Queens Park in Whanganui, the tribe walked, with colourful flags in hand, down to the Riverside on Somme Parade.

Gita Brooke, Ralph Wallace and Kate Smith stand on the top of Whanganui's hand span memorial with their flag of peace. Photo/ Emma Russell

One of Whanganui's peace day organisers, Kate Smith, said for over a decade Whanganui residents had come together at the hand span park.

"It is a chance to signal togetherness and remember peace."

Nine year-old Lola Fisher held her hand crafted white flag with colourful paper angles by the river.

"Peace is important because there are far too many wars going on in the world."

Another organiser, Deirdra McMenamin, said some people who made the paper dolls couldn't be there on the day.

Organiser Deidra McMenamin advocating for peace with Whanganui residents at the Riverside on Somme Parade.

"They made paper chains to represent their families that they were in conflict," Ms McMenamin said.

Ms McMenamin said at the moment we were "exploiting, exploiting, exploiting" and she would like to see the Government start to think about creating an infrastructure that was sustainable to create homes and help clean up our ecological system.

"We need to invest in our education system and give back to young people, we need to be more transparent Government."

Residents gather at the hand span memorial at Queens Park in Whanganui. Photo/ supplied