HOW IT CAME ABOUT
Until 2020, I had no connection or affiliation whatsoever to any branch of the Air Force. I had once announced, at the age of 16, to my father… “I’m filling out forms to join the Royal Air Force”. Having fought with the Royal Engineers in World War II and knowing what ‘service’ meant, my father swiftly replied… “You’ll never survive my dear". I didn't really enjoy following orders. Consequently, I binned the forms.
In 1996, my eldest daughter emigrated to New Zealand to start a family and I followed. Many years later I became a New Zealand citizen, adopting this beautiful country as my home, working as a journalist, author, playwright and free-lance writer.
In 2018 I headed back to Yorkshire, England and settled in Harrogate, with my partner. And this is where coincidences and circumstances eventually led me to ANZAC REMEMBRANCE C.I.O.
By chance, in a cafe, I met Dennis Richards OBE who was Chair of Harrogate International Partnerships, a charity which supports the twinning between Harrogate and Wellington, New Zealand. On discovering I was a Kiwi, and before I could say “I’ll think about it”, I was volunteering my services as H.I.P’s representative for the twinning between the town of Harrogate and the city of Wellington.
Before leaving for New Zealand, in November 2021, I met with the Mayor of Harrogate to retrieve gifts and messages of goodwill to present to the Mayor of Wellington. Almost ready to head down under, to reprise a somewhat lapsed relationship with the capital of New Zealand, I discovered that the twinning, originating from 1953, was to honour 23 New Zealand Aviators who are buried in Stonefall Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Requesting more information on these 23 aviators, I was kindly shown around their graves. When the tour had finished, I asked… “What happens on ANZAC day… do you have a ceremony”? The reply was “Well actually, nothing happens”. And that was when I stepped into the unknown and calmly announced… “then I will create one”.
Arriving in Wellington, I met with Mayor Andy Foster and presented the gifts from H.I.P. and the Mayor of Harrogate, together with a small booklet that I had written which gave a brief history of four of the 23 aviators who were from Wellington. The following day, I met with the Deputy Chief of Air Force in Wellington to present the booklet and inform them of my intention to inaugurate an ANZAC ceremony in Harrogate in April of 2022, that would be under the financial umbrella of H.I.P. . The ceremony was successful and was repeated even more successfully in 2023 and again in 2024, both of the last two years attended by King Charles III's representative from the Lord Lieutenancy of North Yorkshire.
In 2023, I decided that having only written about four of the airmen, there was a much bigger task in front of me. I undertook eight months of research about the 23 young Kiwi aviators, their lives, their family background, their training and their time with the Royal Air Force. By January of 1924, I was ready to start writing the stories of these brave young men which I have called THE TWENTY THREE.
In the summer of 2024, having been extremely grateful for the financial support of Harrogate International Partnership over the previous three years, succession planning was needed to cover all eventualities and to ensure the continuation of this homage to these ANZAC aviators of Australia and New Zealand. Hence came the decision to establish ANZAC REMEMBRANCE , a charitable incorporated organisation registered with the U.K. Charities Commission, set up to cover the costs of the yearly ANZAC ceremony and to preserve this into the far future.