It’s not every day we welcome mayoral delegations to Te Arawhata – but recently we’ve had the honour of two!
In November, a group of 29 New Zealanders, representing the Waimakariri and Hurunui Districts and their RSAs, visited Le Quesnoy as part of a tour of the Western Front. Led by Freddy Declerck – an Honorary Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and the previous Chairman of the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 – the group began their time in Europe with a tour of the key Belgian sites before travelling to France. They spent the morning exploring Te Arawhata before visiting the New Zealand Memorial within the ramparts of Le Quesnoy and enjoying lunch at the Le Maori 2.0 restaurant.
In December, Te Arawhata then welcomed a delegation of 16 Germans from the town of Ratingen. Ratingen, set upon the Rhine River in the west of Germany, is (alongside Cambridge in New Zealand’s Waikato region) sistered with Le Quesnoy. The delegation’s visit was in honour of the 60th anniversary of this sister-city relationship, which was initiated to help heal the wounds of occupation during the First and Second World Wars. Today, Quercitans and Ratingers are close friends, and the delegation was joined by representatives of Le Quesnoy for a commemorative redeclaration of the sistering of the towns and a concert at the Le Quesnoy Town Hall.
Te Arawhata Director, Elizabeth Wratislav, said “it’s always a pleasure to host visiting groups at the museum. Te Arawhata plays an active role within the town of Le Quesnoy, and it is an honour to welcome official delegations for a visit.”