Anzac Day 2017 - Sunday 23rd April
The ANZAC Service at St Mary's Church was attended by the New Zealand High Commissioner, the New Zealand Defense Force, the Australian Defense Force, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Elmbridge Borough Council, the Royal British Legion, the Walton-on-Thames Trading Alliance and The Rt Worshipful The Mayor of Elmbridge,
The service was led by Revs Cathy and Jonny Blair, but Lieutenant Colonel Brendan Hogan from the Australian Defence Force, His Excellency Lieutenant General the Right Honourable Sir Jerry Meteparae, the High Commissioner for New Zealand and Brigadier Evan Williams, Head of New Zealand Defence Staff, London and Defence Adviser to the UK and Ireland all took a part in the proceedings. Following the service the Parade Marshal for Surrey, Tom Milne, led the parade to visit the New Zealand memorial in the graveyard, after which refreshments were served in the church hall where the Mayor of Elmbridge Tania Shipley and Sir Jerry Meteparae both spoke about their desire to forge stronger bonds between Walton-on-Thames and New Zealand. The amazing Mount Felix Tapestry, which many people have spent thousands of hours working on, was on display at the Riverhouse Barn. The tapestry depicts some of the inspirational stories of 27,000 New Zealand soldiers, wounded in WW1, who passed through the doors of the Mount Felix Hospital, here in Walton-on-Thames. The tapestry is on display from April 12-May 14. To watch an amazing report on this tapestry click on this link to the New Zealand Website |
Images from Anzac Day in Walton
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