The Ōtaki and Districts RSA will commemorate Armistice Day on Sunday, November 10, at Memorial Park in Main Street.

“While the actual Armistice Day is the following day, the 11th, we have decided to hold the commemoration the preceding day to allow more people to pay their respects,” says RSA vice president Cam Ronald.

“This is a recognition that 101 years have passed since the 1918 Armistice, and the veterans and their families are still remembered.”

The service will again involve young people. Ōtaki, Te Horo and Waitohu primary schools will have pupils read the list of the servicemen who gave their lives in the 1914-1918 campaign. The head boy and head girl of Ōtaki College will read the poem In Flanders Field.

Cam says the involvement of young people has become a key feature of the annual commemoration at Ōtaki.

The speaker for the service will be Colin Robertson, who is a past president of the Otaki RSA. He and his wife have recently visited the battle grounds and the cemeteries of the war and Colin will add his personal recollections and thoughts of this visit.

The whole Ōtaki community is invited to attend the service and wreath-laying, which begins at 11am.