Home : News : Mayors call for workers to honour earthquake dead
The Mayors of both Hastings and Napier cities are calling on Hawke’s Bay employers to allow their staff an hour off work to attend memorial services honouring the victims of the 1931 earthquake, and are leading by example.
Separate services are being held in each city on the morning of Friday February 3 to mark the time of the quake that killed 258 people across Hawke’s Bay 75 years ago. All staff from both Councils are being given time off to attend the respective memorial services.
Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott believes that the 75th anniversary of the quake is a very important commemoration.
"It will, in all likelihood be the last significant anniversary that will see survivors attending as those still alive are now elderly and will not be at the centennial service," she said.
Lawrence Yule, Mayor of Hastings, also sees the services as events worthy of support by the whole Hawke’s Bay community.
"The 1931 earthquake is New Zealand’s greatest natural disaster that saw the people of the region combine with courage to overcome tragedy and adversity to rebuild our cities to the architectural icons they are today."
Prime Minister Helen Clark is scheduled to attend the Napier service which starts at 10.30am at the Sound Shell.
Mayor Arnott said that of all the commemorative events, including the more celebratory ones of the Art Deco Weekend, the Prime Minister saw the memorial service as the one most appropriate to attend.
The Hastings service will be held at the City Stage opposite the Hastings Clock Tower from 10.15am. Each service will be over within an hour.
Peter Mooney of the Art Deco Trust, organisers of the 75th Earthquake Anniversary and the Art Deco Weekend, said that he already knew of some firms that were closing to allow all staff to attend. A number of schools had also indicated they would be bringing classes to the services, he said.
"We would like to think that all of Hawke’s Bay acknowledges the tragedy and heroism that marks that time 75 years ago, and importance of that day that changed the future of Hawke’s Bay."
The services mark the start of three weeks of commemoration activities that culminate in the celebration of the Art Deco lifestyle and architecture in the annual Brebner Print Art Deco Weekend from February 16 – 19.
A 100-page booklet sets out the hundreds events and activities to be held throughout the region from February 6 to 19, many of them free and open to all.
Copies are available from the Art Deco Shop in Napier, visitor information and tourism outlets and retail stores. A full programme is also available on the Trust’s website www.artdeconapier.com
Specific details of each service are as follows:
Napier – service commences 10.30am at the Soundshell
Prior to the service, the Napier Tech Band will play for 30 minutes until 10.30am when the Mayor, Prime Minister and other dignitaries move to the Soundshell stage. The Mayor, then the Prime Minister will speak.
The Mayor will then introduce a specially commissioned Book of Names and will ring the Veronica Bell at exactly 10.46am. This will be followed by cannon fire, church bells and vintage planes flying overhead. A hymn will be played and a prayer said for those who died.
The Mayor will read the prose “Reflections of Napier” before the dignitaries move to the Veronica Sunbay to leave flowers and to sign the remembrance book. All public attending will also be invited to sign attendance books and to place flowers around the Book of Names.
Hastings – service commences 10.15am at the City Stage, City Centre
The Mayor, dignitaries, and special guests including earthquake survivors will attend. The Mayor will make a welcoming address before laying a commemorative wreath at the Hastings Clock Tower. This will be followed by a prayer, then at 10.46am the Clock Tower bell will be rung.
The bell used is itself an earthquake survivor having toppled from the then Hastings Post Office onto the street below and eventually being restored and placed in the new Clock Tower, built subsequently.
A roll call of the victims’ names will be read and survivors’ stories will be shared. An earthquake photographic display will be outside which will include a series of early editions of the Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune with their graphic descriptions of the destruction. (If damp, the exhibition will be housed in the VIC centre).
In Hastings the day commences with Breakfast in the City at 6.30am and at then again at lunch-time, vendors will be providing food in and around the City Centre. Antique restored steam traction engines and an old fire engine which played pivotal roles in the aftermath of the earthquake will be on show and there will be free entertainment on the City Stage.
Evening celebrations run from 5 to 9pm and families are being encouraged to bring picnic teas into the city to reflect on the fateful day 75 years ago.
For more information contact:
Napier service – Peter Mooney, Art Deco Trust Ph 835 1191 or weekend@artdeconapier.com
Hastings service – Kevin Watkins, Hastings District Councillor Ph 878 2514 or 027 304 6213
Or Dale Cowie ph 875 0393 or 021 40 10 97
