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RSA Update

2/4/2020

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We hope you are all coping well with the current situation with everybody in lockdown.
 
We have set up a telephone tree to contact members to check on your welfare and offer support if needed. You would have heard from them by now. Unfortunately, many of the telephone numbers on our membership list were out of date.
 
If you have recently changed your details (address, email and/or phone number) We would appreciate it if you could email devonportrsa@xtra.co.nz to update our information.
 
As you will be aware our Anzac Day service has been disrupted for the second time in two years. Chris Mullane and others are working on a virtual service for members and the community. We will not be laying out the Field of Remembrance for Anzac Day. However, we hope to make Remembrance Day on Wednesday 11 November 2020 a much more fitting commemoration this year so that members and the community can participate in a meaningful way.
 
RSA National has set up a volunteer delivery service, they can pick up groceries and pharmaceutical products for you. There are protocols in place to keep the volunteers and you safe, and they will be considered essential services. Please do get in touch if you would like any help.
 
Stay home, stay well and wash your hands.
 
Yours faithfully,

Howard Mace
President

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Message from the President regarding COVID-19

19/3/2020

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In these uncertain times we need to take stock of what we are doing in the light of the current COVID-19 virus pandemic.
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It is clear that older members are at greater risk if they develop the infection. Currently, we do not appear to have community spread of the infection. However, we do not want to run the risk of transmitting the virus should it become a community spread disease.
 
We have received direction from RNZRSA National Office to the effect that Anzac Day services will not be held and that Poppy Day has been postponed.  However, we are in the process of developing a virtual program which people can log into and participate in. This will be made available to members and also to the Devonport community.
 
Also, we have considered the risks we run in having our usual fortnightly Monday member meetings. With fewer people attending it may mean that it is not worthwhile running them. The Executive Committee have decided that we should not continue with the meetings. Until further notice the Monday meetings will not be held. They will recommence when appropriate and we will advise you when this is to happen. However, we will try to keep people informed by electronic means and by letter. If people know of someone in difficulty, please let us know so that we can do the best we can to help. A regular phone call to five other members is a reasonable thing to do.
 
For all of us, please keep in touch by phone or email so that social activity continues although in a different form. Visits to older people are being discouraged and we are following the advice in the New Zealand Herald today. Wash and dry your hands and stay healthy.
 
Yours faithfully,

Howard Mace
President

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RSA Project Update

1/7/2019

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​We are excited to announce we have upgraded our premises! The Devonport RSA before and after photos are below. We have painted new wall colour, we were able to remove some of our light beams when we upgraded our lights. The stage was removed to create a bigger space, upgraded our kitchen to be able to use for events and painted our entrance.
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Before photo of the front of the hall.
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After photo of the RSA Hall
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Before photo of the back of the RSA Hall.
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Before and After of the entrance way
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Entrance way at the top of the stairs.
​More photos below of the transformation. Thank you to everyone evolved with the project!! 
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The lads removing the stage
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The stage is gone and all ready for painting.
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The lads finishing up the painting
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June 2019 Notices

13/6/2019

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Devonport Anzac Day Official Service Sacrificed

19/4/2019

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Article from The Devonport Flagstaff, dated 19 April 2019.
​For the first time in a century, war veterans will not march down Victoria Rd and neither will there be a solemn service of remembrance at the Devonport cenotaph.
Police instigated the cancellation of Devonport’s Anzac Day ceremonies due to security concerns in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack.

At a meeting of the three North Shore RSA presidents and police, it was decided to hold just one service in Browns Bay. “I was disappointed, of course,” said Devonport RSA president Howard Mace. “But we have to be pragmatic, and the advice we received from police is Browns Bay was the best place to secure.”

The Devonport cenotaph is surrounded by several roads, which makes security more
problematic, Mace said. The Anzac Day parades are of more concern to police than gatherings, such as concerts, because they take place on the streets and in public places, he said. “You could have an idiot terrorist drive a truck through it.”

Asked why defence forces couldn’t provide security, Mace said it wasn’t just a question of personnel. Auckland Council would also need to be involved, for example, providing concrete barricades and other barriers.

An informal gathering will still take place at the Devonport RSA at Devonia Hall, 61
Victoria Rd at 10am. It has capacity for 150 people. “The Devonport RSA will hold a small service inside, because it can be secured,” Mace said. The Navy band will be missing, but a Navy bugler and chaplain will attend, with Mace also saying a few words. The Devonport cenotaph will still have a rack for floral wreaths and poppies.

Anzac Day services and commemorations have been held in New Zealand since 1916, when the Anzac Day holiday was gazetted. Mace is unsure when the first Devonport service was held, but it was almost certainly before the Devonport RSA was set up in 1927. Devonport’s druid Chris Mullane will act as MC and two Takapuna Grammar students will speak at the Browns Bay ceremony.
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• A dawn parade will leave from the Browns Bay police station at 5.30am and proceed to the beach cenotaph. At 8.30am, the civic service will start with a second parade following the same route. People are advised to go early, as there will be road blocks and security checks.
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Howard Mace Retraces Great Grandfathers Footsteps

1/11/2018

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​November 2018 | Written by H. M. Mace
Howard Mace recently returned from a trip to UK and France. While there he followed up on his great grand father on his mother’s side, Benjamin Ralph Jackson.
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This is the sort of uniform he would have been wearing in the Redoubt Fort.
He was born in the parish of St Clements in Oxford in England on 4 July 1838. His father Edward was a groom and died in 1846 when Benjamin was only 8 years old. Benjamin’s mother Sarah remarried and lived till 1902. Benjamin was recorded in a census as living in his stepfather’s house in Caroline Street in Oxford at the age of 12 as an errand boy in 1850. He is then recorded in a census as a Lance Corporal in the 24th Regiment at the age of 22 in the Circular Redoubt in Eastbourne in 1860.
On 25 July 1862 he married Elizabeth Isabella Spearing in Rowner, Hampshire. Their union was blessed with the birth of four children one of whom was born in Camo Curragh, Kildare in Ireland. Later in 1871 he was serving at the Citadel Barracks, Western Heights, Kent as a Colour Sergeant.
On 26 April 1872 the family boarded the fine clipper ship Celestial Queen for Auckland. They arrived after a passage of 94 days on 30 July 1872 he was listed as a carpenter. Subsequently Benjamin and Eliza had Ellen (Nellie) Spearing Jackson (later Swney)(Howard’s Grandmother) in 1874, Ada Jackson (later Rohrlach) in 1880 and Jessie Emma Jackson in 1884 although she died within a year.
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They lived for a time in Hill Street, Thames and Benjamin died in Richmond Street, Thames on 3 September 1914 and was buried in the Shortland Cemetery PUB-PLOT-3551 on 4 September 1914.
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While in the UK Howard witnessed this amazing display of poppies in Gloucester Cathedral.
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From left: Chris Mullane, Rebecca Nelson, Howard and Joy Mace
The second part of Howard’s trip was to Le Quesnoy/Sambre.  There he met up with  Chris Mullane and Rebecca Nelson who were also there to attended the centenary commemorations of the liberation of the town of Le Quesnoy by the New Zealand Rifle Brigade one week before the end of the Great War (as it was known at the time.) Rebecca sang at several functions and Chris Mullane was the MC for the dedication of the New Zealand War Memorial in France. Howard and his wife Joy were attending because his uncle was awarded a Military Medal for his actions leading to the capture of the town.
The New Zealand Division was a leading light in the advance to capture the bridges over the River Sambre to the East of Le Quesnoy. The plan was to spare the town from bombardment because of the safety of the inhabitants and possible British prisoners of war in the town.
This meant that the New Zealanders suffered higher casualties in surrounding the town and advancing through the Forest of Mormal to the Sambre River. They lost 139 killed. Eventually the Auckland 4th Battalion succeeded in getting up to the inner ramparts where they climbed the wall with a ladder and forced the surrender of the German garrison and other troops who retreated to the safety of the fortress. In climbing the walls they created international news reported in “The Times” of London and “The New York Times.” This caught the imagination of the world. Instead of the brutal fighting with heavy artillery and machine guns the image of the knight climbing the walls to rescue the princess was evoked and so for the first time the world heard of New Zealand.
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New Zealand War Memorial Museum link www.nzwmm.org.nz

Howard Mace

Howard is a current Executive Committee member

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Vice President Red Beatson heads overseas to find out about his family.

1/10/2018

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Blog post coming soon …….
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Committee Member Rebecca Nelson Meets HRH Prince Charles

1/8/2018

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​August 2018 | Written by R. J. Nelson
I joined the Royal New Zealand Navy as a Reservist in 2013 after a chance encounter with the Musical Director of the RNZN Band while I was busking on the main street of Devonport. I was asked to tour around the North Island with the band and before I knew it I was signing the dotted line. I had never considered joining the New Zealand Defence Force but now I couldn’t imagine my life without it. I have had so many incredible opportunities including singing at major commemorations in Gallipoli, France and Belgium.
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​I have also attended a number of commemorations at the Auckland War Memorial Museum where I struck up a friendship with Roy Clare who was the Director of the Museum from 2011-2016 before he moved back home to the UK. Roy is an amazing man with a distinguished career in both the Royal Navy and as a museum director. He was the First Lieutenant from 1975 to 1977 with the Prince of Wales as the captain in HMS Bronington. Roy’s commands included the minehunter Bronington, the destroyers Birmingham and York and the aircraft carrier Invincible.
​In March this year I travelled to London to sing with The Band of the Welsh Guards for their St David’s Day concert. While in London I arranged to meet up with Roy over a cup of tea and a scone. He casually mentioned that he was arranging an old ship mates’ reunion for Prince Charles later in the year. Half joking, my husband piped up and said “Do you need a singer for that?” We all laughed and then carried on chatting without giving it another thought.
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On my return to New Zealand I couldn’t believe my eyes when an invitation arrived, inviting me to sing at Highgrove, the private residence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles for his old ship mates’ reunion. I immediately contacted the team at NGAPONA to share the news and plans were underway to return to the UK.
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It’s always a great honour representing the Royal New Zealand Navy overseas so I wanted to fit in as much as possible. I met a historian on a cruise ship in 2015 who told me about a beautiful village in the New Forest called Brockenhurst. This was the home of No.1 New Zealand General Hospital from 1916 until it closed in 1919. In all some 21,000 New Zealand casualties were treated at the hospital during the First World War, including 93 who died and were laid to rest at the St Nicholas Church cemetery. I had arranged to visit the site with the historian Colin van Geffen and it just so happened that a group of students from St Andrew’s College, Christchurch were visiting the same week. They had been researching five of the Kiwi soldiers and came to present their project to St Nicholas Church. We held a small service where the students placed a wreath and we sang the New Zealand National Anthem which was very special.
I was lucky enough to be in London for the RAF100 fly over to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Royal Air Force and what a sight! We had the best view in London watching from the spectacular terrace on the top floor of New Zealand House. Some highlights included 22 RAF Typhoons flying in formation as the number “100” and of course the Red Arrows flying over Buckingham Palace.
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The next stop on my trip was to visit Help for Heroes, an amazing charity set up to “provide lifelong support to Service Personnel and Military Veterans with injuries, illnesses and wounds sustained while serving in the British Armed Forces”. I was introduced to one of the founders, Mark Elliot, who was kind enough to give me a personal tour of Tin Hut and Tedworth House. The facilities are absolutely incredible and the support they offer for recovery, rehabilitation and general well-being is world class.
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The day of the reunion finally arrived and I was so nervous, I think I must have ironed my uniform four times! Once all the guests had arrived at Highgrove we were invited on a tour of the gardens which were just incredible, it was like walking into a fairy tale. The gardens are a culmination of 38 years of imagination and passion from Prince Charles and are maintained by 11 gardeners. I wish I had pictures to share but cameras and phones were strictly forbidden. We then had a champagne reception where I sang for the guests, including Pokarekare Ana. I then met HRH Prince Charles who said he remembered meeting me in France at the Battle of the Somme centenary and was extremely grateful that I had made the trip over from New Zealand. The rest of the conversation is all a bit of a blur, I think I was a little overwhelmed.
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A quartet from the Royal Marines provided the entertainment for the rest of the reception and I was able to meet some amazing people including a First Sea Lord, a gentleman who worked as a police officer for HRH, and some wonderful veterans. Many recalled visiting New Zealand on ship in 1974 for the Commonwealth Games. It really was a historic event having personnel from nine ships together: Britannia Royal Naval College, Dryad, Bronington, Jupiter, Norfolk, Minerva, Hermes/845 Squadron, Hermione and Fox. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was such a privilege to attend.
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After a couple of days relaxing and coming down from my high, I headed back to London to perform a concert for the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Hospital. What an audience! They were all singing and laughing the whole way through and their banter was brilliant. Chelsea Pensioners are former members of the British Army but I was pulled aside by one group and they whispered “we aren’t meant to be here, we are Royal Marine veterans but we just had to come see you”, which absolutely made my day
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There was one last thing I wanted to do before I headed home and that was to visit the New Zealand sailor who lies over in London that we are bringing home later in the year. I have met his sister on a number of occasions through the Devonport RSA who is a lovely lady. I placed a few poppies on his grave and told him how happy his family are that he is coming home, it was quite an emotional moment.
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Who would have thought, from busking on the streets of Devonport to singing for royalty at their private estate? And all thanks to the Royal New Zealand Navy. I must make a very special thank you to the team at NGAPONA who helped make this all possible. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I have had since joining the RNZN, I have so much respect for all those that serve and I am always so proud to wear the uniform. 

Author: Rebecca Nelson

Rebecca is currently serving as a member on the Devonport RSA Executive Committee. 

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FRED WILSON – Founder and inaugural webmaster of the Devonport RSA website from 2012-2018.
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