Mark the armistice with noise

New Zealanders are being asked to mark the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I on Sunday with as much noise as they can make.

Far North (Kaitaia) RSA president Angel Erstich is hoping her community will turn up the volume after two minutes’ silence at the cenotaph in Remembrance Park at 11am.

“Ring church bells, toot car horns, rev motorbikes — make as much noise as possible for two minutes to replicate what actually happened when the war ended,” she said.

Sarah Davies, director of the First World War Centenary Programme WW100, said the “Roaring Chorus” invited communities to break the silence in a way relevant to them.

“After four years of remembrance, we can now reconnect with the sense of joy and relief that swept the county when news of the end of fighting came through,” she said. “The thanksgiving and jubilation overwhelmed New Zealanders, who hade endured so much hardship and loss since 1914.”

Work and school was abandoned, streets filled with thousands of people in spontaneous celebration. The Evening Post described the scene in Wellington: “There were songs and cheers, miscellaneous pipings and blastings, and tootings and rattlings — a roaring chorus of gladsome sounds.”

Kaitaia’s commemoration will continue at 11.45am with reading the names of the fallen in the RSA foyer, followed at 1pm by a performance of a play written by Kaitaia College students Jos Spaans and Andrew van der Linden, looking at the war through the eyes of a father in Kaitaia and his son at the front.

Kaeo’s commemoration begins with a service led by the New Beginnings Church at 9.30am, followed by a march from the Whangaroa RSA to the Memorial Hall cenotaph at 10.30, a memorial service in the hall at 11am, and a march past.

A concert begins in the hall at 12.15pm.