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Katikati's new Memorial Square was officially opened this morning, with 60 people from many of the town's organisations and community groups gathering on-site for the special ceremony.

Completed on time and under budget, Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Ross Paterson hoisted the national flag to open the square in front of Katikati War Memorial Hall.

Katikati's new Memorial Square was officially opened by Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson this morning.

Designed by Isthmus and built by Marra Construction, the $300,000 project has transformed the square into a centrepiece for the town, as a memorial to soldiers who served in the world wars.

The hall and its re-vamped square is a fitting tribute to the sacrifice of the men and women who fought in conflicts overseas for the freedom New Zealanders enjoy today, says Ross.

The new look includes paving to the road edge and three rectangle granite bars engraved with inscriptions in memory of New Zealand troops deployed to war.

The site's flagpole is repositioned in the square's centre and the memorial clock remains a focal feature.

Katikati RSA president Peter Sparrow says he hopes local people, children in particular, will take note of the names of theatres of war, engraved on cobblestones, leading from the clock to the hall.

'I hope this brings home to then the sacrifices many New Zealander have made for us all.”

Sally Henry, who was one of four 'queens' who participated in a carnival to raise funds for the hall in 1952, and is the hall committee's chair, gave a brief outline of its history.

The first public meeting to discuss building a hall as a war memorial was held in 1943. By 1946 enough money had been raised to buy a section in the centre of town from the Bank of New Zealand.

'The BNZ generously gifted the adjoining section to the committee for a public hall.”

The queen carnival raised 7200 pounds and the total community contribution, matched pound for pound by the Government, was 12,967 pounds.

On October 4, 1954 The Governor General Sir Willoughby Norrie and Lady Norrie officially opened the hall.

The Memorial Square is the first physical sign of the Katikati Town Centre Plan taking shape, which residents have been contributing to via WBODPC targeted rating for the last six years.

Katikati Community Board chair Sam Dunlop says planning for the new square began in 2005 and while its completion had been a long time in coming; 'the end result is a worthy one”.

The next major project in Katikati's Town Centre Plan will be restoration to the former Katikati Fire Station, opposite the square.