Friday 25 April 2014 is Anzac Day. Christchurch is currently celebrating Anzac Day with a Dawn Service in Cranmer Square (where a temporary cenotaph is erected) and a Citizens Service at the ChristChurch Transitional Cathedral in Latimer Square. The details for each service are available on the Christchurch City Council website. For the locations and times of other commemorations around Christchurch details can be found on the RSA website.
Each year many wreaths and bouquets from the Dawn Service end up at the statue of Sgt Henry James Nicholas V.C. M.M., northwest of the Bridge of Remembrance on Cambridge Terrace.
Henry Nicholas was the first soldier from the Canterbury Regiment to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He died in action on 23 October 1918 aged 26. He was awarded the Military Medal posthumously for his bravery during the fight for the bridgeheads at the River Ecaillon near the village of Beaudignies on 23 October 1918, 12 days before the New Zealanders’ capture of the town of Le Quesnoy.
- About Anzac Day
- Anzac Day events in Christchurch and Canterbury
- Anzac Day in pictures
- Anzac Day information for kids
- World War I resources
- The Bridge of Remembrance
All of our libraries are closed on Anzac Day.
It is a fine statue and I enjoyed seeing it last Anzac Day with all the flowers and wreaths around it.
Henry Nicholas is also memorialised on his mothers grave at Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch
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Cheers
Sarndra