The Thames-Coromandel District Council's World War One Memorial Forest project has received $122,205 from the New Zealand Lotteries Commission WW1 Commemoration Fund.

Mayor Glenn Leach says this funding recognises all the hard work that's gone into the memorial project that's seen more than 3,000 trees planted at seven sites across the Coromandel this year.

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry at the launch of the world War One Memorial Forest at Cathedral Cove in June. Photo: TCDC

There are now memorial forests in each community board area of the Coromandel.

'We've had school children working through last winter with our council staff and elected members, Waikato Regional Council, local RSAs, Wintec and community groups to plant thousands of trees.

'Our memorial forests project will continue to grow, thanks to this help from Lotteries, and provide a lasting legacy for future generations with magnificent forests to honour those who sacrificed their lives for New Zealand.”

The grant means council now has the potential to plant the remaining 1,300 trees at the Gallipoli Memorial Forest, and an additional 1,500 trees at the new Whitianga Cemetery to commemorate the Battle of Passchendaele.

They will also investigate using the grant towards a new 2,000-tree forest commemorating the Battle of the Somme, planted along the Coromandel Great Walks route at the Stella Evered Reserve at Purangi.

'Planting of these new forests will not begin until the full council has had a chance to consider the expansion of the Memorial Forest project at its meeting in late February,” adds Glenn.

THE THAMES-COROMANDEL DISTRICT COUNCIL WORLD WAR ONE MEMORIAL FOREST SITES:

• Cathedral Cove (Gallipoli):
  2,779 trees to commemorate each soldier who died at Gallipoli.
• Whangamata (Battle of Le Quesnoy):
  122 trees at a Council reserve at the north end of town for the 122 men killed liberating the French town of Le Quesnoy in the final week of the war.
• Coromandel Town ('Supreme Sacrifice”):
  1,000 trees at the Hauraki Road site to represent the ultimate price paid by those who never returned from the war, and to pay tribute to the 39 Coromandel Town men who were killed.
• Pauanui (Sinai-Palestine Campaign):
  The Tangitarori Lane site represents the 640 men killed in this campaign.
• Thames (Thames war dead):
  247 trees planted at Rhodes Park at the south entrance to town pay tribute to the 247 Thames men who fell in the war.
• Tairua (Tairua war dead):
  The site at the new Tairua Cemetery honours the 48 local men who gave their lives.
• Whitianga (Passchendaele):
  Located at the new cemetery south of Whitianga on State Highway 25.

For more information and ways you can honour the fallen visit the Thames-Coromandel District Council's Memorial Forest project webpage at: www.tcdc.govt.nz/ww1memorialforest