Speech winners honoured to be chosen
THE winner of an annual Wakatipu High School Anzac Day speech competition cried while writing her speech — a letter to an unknown, fallen soldier.
Emeline Lewis won the 2019 Queenstown and Arrowtown RSA speech competition with a speech she finished the night before the contest.
This year’s topic was ‘‘How we remember them’’, something Emeline initially struggled with.
‘‘I didn’t have any family members personally . . . that had been in the war or died, so no personal connection.
‘‘But, as a nation, we’ve all benefited . . . from what the soldiers did.’’
She thought about what her generation did today to remember the Anzacs, in particular, the freedoms she and her peers enjoyed because of their sacrifices and the importance of keeping their memories alive.
‘‘The younger generation are still continuing to honour these people . . . I believe the people who have the ability to talk about them, have the responsibility.’’
She said it was ‘‘an honour’’ to have been selected to deliver her speech at the official Anzac Day service in Queenstown.
Arrowtown’s speaker would be runnerup Greta Balfour, who was inspired by her late grandfather, John Garnett Francis Balfour, who fought in North Africa and Italy between 1940 and 1944 and was an artillery sergeant.
‘‘He returned from war deaf in one ear due to the constant blasting of the gun.’’
Greta never met her grandfather, who was originally from Waimate but moved to Dunedin after marrying her grandmother, Margaret — he died 17 years before she was born.
But when she heard about the speech competition, ‘‘I instantly thought of him’’ .
She said being named as the main speaker for the Arrowtown service was a surprise, but an amazing opportunity.
‘‘I’m really proud that I get to do it at such an important event.
‘‘It’s really amazing to be a young person and be able to thank people from so many years ago — they don’t know us, and we don’t know them, but it’s really amazing to be given the opportunity to do something for them.’’
Queenstown’s Anzac Day service will be held at the Queenstown Memorial Centre from 10am on April 25, following a parade from the Memorial Gates.
Arrowtown’s service will start at 10.30am at the Athenaeum Hall and conclude with a parade to the cenotaph for the laying of wreaths.