Thames' Rhodes Park is the latest site to have trees planted as part of the Thames-Coromandel District Council's World War One Memorial Forest project.

Students from Thames South, St Francis, Parawai, Moanataiari and Te Puru Schools braved the winter chill to plant tree at a newly landscaped area of Rhodes Park on Tuesday.

As part of the Thames-Coromandel District Council's World War One Memorial Forest project, 249 trees were planted at Rhodes Park on Tuesday. Photo: TCDC

A total of 249 trees were planted during the ceremony, with each tree representing a Thames soldier who died during the bloody conflicts from 1914 – 1918.

The ceremony was opened by kaumātua Wati Ngamane, followed by speeches from Thames RSA president Mark Binning, Smart Environmental head landscaper Howard Saunders, and deputy mayor Peter French.

In his speech on Tuesday, Peter described how those 249 Thames soldiers 'knew the river, they walked this land, they stood and looked at these magnificent hills”.

'Sights they were never to experience again,” he reflected.

'For these brave 249 men, they were destined to never come home,” said Peter. 'They died in foreign fields and their bodies lie in the graveyards of Gallipoli, or the Somme, on Messines Ridge or any number of other battlefields. Yet their spirit lives on.”

'In these plantings, we are not just honouring the past but also building the future. This memorial forest will be here for many generations to come.”

TCDC deputy mayor Peter French with Ngāti Maru kaumātua Wati Ngamane and school students reflecting during Tuesday's ceremony. Photo: TCDC

Ahead of Tuesday's planting Thames South School students had worked with The Treasury – a purpose-built archive and family history centre – to research the names of the 249 soldiers.

This allowed volunteer planters to acknowledge each of the fallen soldiers by writing their names on GPS tags which were then attached to individual trees.

Once planting is complete, each tree will be plotted on map with GPS coordinates, allowing each soldier who is commemorated with a tree to be found.

The next planting will take place at Tangitarori Lane in Pauanui, which commemorates the Sinai-Palestine campaign, on Saturday, September 5, at 11am.

For more information or to learn how to donate a tree visit the Thames-Coromandel District Council's WW1 Memorial Forest Project webpage.

As part of the project, trees will be tagged with the name of a fallen soldier. Photo: TCDC