NZ Male Choir performs at Gore
1. In a romantic song popular during World War II, where did a nightingale sing? 2. On which World War I battlefield did angels supposedly protect British troops? 3. Which servicemen are commemorated in a memorial near Paekakariki, on the Kapiti Coast? 4. Which Beatle starred in a 1967 satirical movie called How I Won the War? 5. In the words of a popular World War II marching song, on what line was the washing going to be hung out? 6. What was the English title of the classic German war novel Im Westen nichts Neues? 7. Which war movie of 1998 won five Academy Awards? 8. In which Asian country did a special British force known as the Chindits fight in World War II? 9. What role did a woman named Leni Riefenstahl play in Germany’s Nazi regime? 10. Which German military strategy in World War II had a name that translates as lightning strike? Blitzkrieg. 10. films; propaganda made She 9. Burma; 8. Ryan; Private Saving 7. Front; Western the on Quiet All 6. Line; Siegfried The 5. Lennon; John 4. Marines; US 3. Mons; 2. Square; Berkeley In 1. For the first time, the dulcet tones of the New Zealand Male Choir rang out at the dawn service in Gore on Anzac Day.
The choir performed For The Fallen and led the singing of the New Zealand and Australian national anthems.
Choir member John Botting, of Waimate, said members were from all over New Zealand and came together three or four times a year to perform.
Rehearsals were held once a month on each island, and the choir had decided about 18 months ago that it was time it performed in Gore.
‘‘We agreed to come to Gore this year because one of our members, Stu Roy, is a member of the RSA here.’’
Roy is a tenor and is the only member of the choir in Southland.
‘‘Last year for the anniversary for 100 years we performed at the service in Kaikoura,’’ Botting said.
‘‘Who knows where we’ll be next Anzac Day? We’ll be somewhere singing, for sure.’’
The choir, which has several returned servicemen among its ranks, had sung at a concert at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Gore on Sunday before waking early to perform at the dawn service.
‘‘It’s an honour for us and it was a great service this morning. We were pleased to be a part of it.’’
Those attending the service were wrapped up against the cold as they assembled at the town’s Cenotaph for the 6.30am service.
Gore RSA president Frank Lynch said the turnout in Gore was one of the best he’d seen.
‘‘Considering the rain we had overnight we were lucky not to get wet out there.’’
‘‘It was a really, really big crowd. It was magnificent last year and I wondered whether we would ever better that but I think we did this year.
‘‘There would have been over 2000, in excess of 2000 people there, which on a week day is brilliant.’’
He was impressed with the New Zealand Men’s Choir performance.
‘‘They really added to the occasion, we were lucky to have them here.’’
Parade marshall Michael O’Neill said about 800 people, including returned servicemen and women, paraded from the Cenotaph to the RSA.