ANZAC Day Dawn Service

Horowhenua residents and visitors are invited to attend services to commemorate ANZAC Day on Tuesday 25 April 2017.

There are dawn services and civic ceremonies are being held throughout the District:

Foxton Dawn Service:
5.30am - Assemble at RSA, Devon St.
5.45am - Parade moves off to Cenotaph.
6.00am - Cenotaph Service begins.
6.30am - Return to RSA.

The commemoration begins with a short parade by returned servicemen and women to the local war memorial. They are given pride of place while families and other members of the community gather informally around the memorial. Uniformed service personnel provide a catafalque guard of honour around the memorial — standing motionless, heads bowed over reversed arms — their youth a reminder to all present that the returned service personnel before them and those remembered today were once young.

We gather here to think of those soldiers who went out to battle but did not return. We remember the great sacrifice they made and dedicate ourselves to the service of the ideals for which they died. As the dawn pierces the night, let their memory inspire us to work for the coming of the new light into the dark places of the world.