Anzac Day services

War medals and poppies are being perfectly arranged ahead of tomorrow's dawn services and parades commemorating New Zealand's soldiers lost during the battle of Gallipoli.

The services throughout New Zealand, including the Bay of Plenty, mark the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, named ANZACs, at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, where 18,000 New Zealanders and 60,000 Australians lost their lives.


Mount Maunganui College head students Akasha Warner-Mason and Ben Cochrane at the Mount cenotaph. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Services will be held across the Bay tomorrow, including at Mount Maunganui, Tauranga and Te Puke and Katikati honouring all servicemen and women involved. Shops will be closed until 1pm tomorrow.

Mount Maunganui RSA general manager Peter Moss is expecting more than 6000 people to attend the dawn and civic services at the Mount Maunganui Cenotaph in what is an important day for all New Zealanders.

'The dawn service is always the big one because we have a lot of very, very old veterans that insist on marching and standing,” says Peter.

'With the dawn service we can get anything from 4500 to 5000 people and the civic service can see 500 to 1000 people.”

This year's dawn service has Sergeant Mike Halliday as parade marshal and Tauranga veteran pilot Derek Williams once again flying his Harvard aeroplane over the Mount during the service.

At the civic service Mount Maunganui College head students Akasha Warner-Mason and Ben Cochrane will speak in a tradition that comes around every five years for their school.

'It's pretty impressive especially at the dawn service, as you've got the sun coming up behind the planes come over the ocean – and it's pretty moving. It's probably nearly as close as you are going to get to Gallipoli, while being in NZ.”

A free ‘park and ride' service for the dawn service will be available from Kawaka S (behind Blake Park) to Maunganui Rd behind Mount Drury.

Buses will leave Kawaka Stfrom 5am-5.50am and return after the service finishes between 6.40am-7.30am.

The Tauranga RSA's dawn service is being held at the cenotaph followed by a 9am civic service at Memorial Park.

A ‘park and ride' service will be available from Tauranga Boys' College bus bays on Devonport Rd to the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre between 8am and 8.50am, and again at the end of the service.

Extra parking will be available around Jordan Field area, at the other end of Memorial Park. Parking for mobility card-holders will be available outside the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre.

Road closures will be in place in both Mount Maunganui and Tauranga during tomorrow morning for the services.

Fraser St, Devonport Rd and 11th Ave will be closed from 8-11am and Marine Parade from 5.55am-7am, and again from 9.25am-11am.

Anzac Services:

Mount Maunganui Dawn Service and Civic Service

5.45am: Mount Drury Reserve

5.55am: March off

6am: Service at the Cenataph on Marine Parade

9.15am: Assemble at Mount Drury Reserve

9.25am: March off

9:30am: Service

Tauranga Dawn Service and Civic Service

5.45am: Assemble on Hayes Avenue

5.55am: March off

6am: Service at the RSA memorial

8.30am: Groups wishing to march in the parade assemble next to the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre.

9am: Service at the Memorial Park Cenotaph

Tauranga Cemetery Service, Pyes Pa Cemetery

10.30am: Service at war memorial

Te Puke Anzac Day parade

10am: Assemble opposite Kiwibank

10.10am: March of down the main street to the Te Puke War Memorial Hall

10.30am: Service

Katikati Dawn and Civic Service

5.50am: Assemble for parade at Memorial Square (front of Katikati War Memorial Hall)

5.50am: March off

6am: Service at Memorial Square (front of Katikati War Memorial Hall)

10.15am: Assemble at Uretara Domain

10.30am: March off - up Main St to Katikati War Memorial Hall

11am: Civic service at Katikati War Memorial Hall

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