Anzac service bugler taking it to the street
COVID19 may have caused Anzac Day services to be cancelled around Dunedin this year, but that’s not stopping Ralph Miller from bringing a little piece of the annual remembrance service to his street.
The Dunedin Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet player and longserving Anzac Dawn Service bugler will play Last Post and reveille from his front gate at 7.30am this Anzac Day.
And he is hoping other brass players in Dunedin, and the many others scattered across
Otago and Southland, will join him from their own front gates.
He said it was impossible to hold the remembrance service in the traditional way, given the Covid19 lockdown, but it was still important to commemorate the day.
Anzac Day broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations, and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.
“We still have to make sure that we acknowledge it and keep the tradition alive,” he said.
He believed there were more than 100 brass players of different ability around Dunedin, and many more scattered across the southern region.
“If it was a clear morning and everyone participated, it would be quite stirring to hear the Last
Post ringing around the streets of Dunedin.”
Dunedin Returned and Services’ Association president Lox Kellas said it was a marvellous idea.
“It would be a great acknowledgement of the day, and that’s the main thing.”
The RSA was also encouraging children to draw poppies and put them in their front windows alongside their teddy bears.
The RSA executive was investigating whether it would be possible for one or two officials to lay a wreath at the Dunedin Cenotaph in Queens Gardens on Anzac Day.
Mosgiel RSA president Debbie Kennedy and Invercargill RSA secretary Cindy Kennedy encouraged residents to participate in the RSA National Stand at Dawn event, where people will stand
outside their house at 6am to honour fallen soldiers. Residents are also being encouraged to make a wreath and hang it on their fence or in their window.
The RSA and New Zealand Defence Force are inviting New Zealanders to stand at their letterbox, the front door, in the lounge, on the balcony, or in the driveway, and take a moment to remember our fallen.
You can tune in to RNZ National and listen to the official dawn service broadcast at 6am, which includes Last Post, Ode of Remembrance in te reo Maori and English, the national anthems and an address by Minister of Defence and Minister for Veterans Ron Mark.
Gore RSA president Jarrad Scott said in Gore the RSA had been planning an event similar to the ‘‘Stand at Dawn’’ event before the idea was picked up at a national level.
‘‘What we’re doing in Gore is we are working with the local radio station Hokonui Gold to prerecord the service and ask people to take their radios to their letterbox.’’
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the council was planning a dawn service video to stream on Anzac Day.