ANZAC Centenary

Unfortunately Brendon had to work this morning, so we tried to make sure we could get as much involvement in ANZAC day today as we could. Rachel and Ruth spent the night at the Love's home. Rachel headed off very early with Lila to attend the Dawn Parade in Christchurch. They then got back to Amberley for the parade there. Rachel was so excited to be a part of the colour party for St John and she even got to hold the flag. Hopefully we will get some photos from her day and then we can share those with you.
The Love family would normally attend in Amberley too, but as their one son was involved in Waikari this year, they headed up our way. I was so pleased that Ruth got to experience it all. It was a day to remember.
With it being the ANZAC Centenary this year, our community organized a 100 horses to do a 25km walk.
Photo: The only photo I got today on our walk to see the horses.


Look at this amazing photo that our neighbour Val took, capturing so well what an incredibly moving event today was. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The plan had been to have a short stop in Hawarden by 9am. So I got Hannah, Hezekiah and Asher ready and we headed up. We arrived around 8:50 but there was only the signs of the horses already having gone past. They had been very early and had gone through at 8:30. So we missed them. This makes me even more thankful for Val sharing her stunning photos with us.


The photos above are of the service held in Wakiari that Ruth got to attend. Thank you to the Love family for sharing the two photos above and the next two photos.
It must have been amazing to be at such a big service. Many hundreds more people here today than any other year.
Left: Ruth trying on one of the soldiers hats. She said it was incredibly heavy.
Ruth then headed home with the Love family and we fetched both her and Rachel later in the afternoon (once we knew the traffic would be more reasonable). They both had a very memorable day. Thanks to the Love family for making that possible.
I'm not sure how long News Videos stay on-line. I will post the links here in that hopes that they do stay a while.
It was really special seeing our little village on the news. :-) One News, 3News and The New Zealand Herald.