A month on, the team at Te Arawhata has now had a chance to catch our breath and reflect on an incredible weekend of commemorations and celebrations for Anzac Day 2025. Hundreds of people attended the weekend’s events, culminating in a massive presence at Sunday 27 April’s commemorative service, as the people of Le Quesnoy alongside their Kiwi friends, officially marked the 110th anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli.
While this year was my first Anzac Day as Director of Te Arawhata, it was not my first Anzac Day in Le Quesnoy. While studying in Paris in 2010 and 2011, I made the journey North to remember the sacrifice of New Zealand’s servicepeople. This year, like before, I was astounded by the commitment to keeping the memory of the New Zealand war effort alive. Seeing the Museum forecourt full of people hailing from opposite ends of the Earth was a testament to the strength of the duty of remembrance amongst both New Zealanders and our local Quercitains.
A real highlight of the weekend for me was our annual Anzac Dinner. 170 people attended this lively gathering, and tables were arranged so that locals connected with travelling New Zealanders – the resulting Franglish could be studied! A particularly special moment was a performance from Ngāti Rānana – the London Māori Club – whose waiata, poi and haka made me feel both far from home and deeply connected to Aotearoa.
I also want to recognise and thank some of the many special guests we had visit across the weekend: New Zealand Ambassador to France, Monaco, Portugal and the OECD, Caroline Bilkey; Mayor of Le Quesnoy, Marie-Sophie Lesne; Founding Partners of the Museum, Brendan and Jo Lindsay; New Zealand Defence Attaché to Belgium and France, James Barnes; members of the delegation from Le Quesnoy’s sister city, Cambridge, led by Alana MacKay; members of the Association Le Quesnoy Nouvelle-Zélande; Te Arawhata founder, Herb Farrant; and members of the Te Arawhata Board of Trustees, David McLean, Andrew Barnes and Liz Stolwyk.
A further thank you to the wonderfully dedicated Te Arawhata team and volunteers for making this weekend such a success.
With Anzac Day completed for another year, Te Arawhata returns to its regular programming. I was delighted to attend the inaugural Te Arawhata Golf Tournament this month, a competition organised by the Mormal Golf Club in support of the Museum. We also held our first dramatised visits for the European Night of the Museums, where local historian and Te Arawhata volunteer, Grégory Chermeux, pulled together a moving and engaging performance as Anastase Carlier. You can read more about these two events in the rest of our May Newsletter.
As a final note, I am thrilled to announce our upcoming temporary exhibition, Ça Roule! Remembering the New Zealand Cyclist Corps. The exhibition explores the crucial role of an unheralded regiment of New Zealand’s forces and is set to open just as France goes cycling-mad for the Tour de France.