'We Shall Remember Them'

Please join the Friends of St David's (Kāhui Rangi Pupu) on ANZAC Eve to 'Remember Them', the Thursday night before Anzac Day.

The annual commemorative event at Kāhui St David’s to mark Anzac Eve with a moving musical tribute. Experience the magnificent acoustics of our centre for music. Performances by musicians including Felicity Tomkins, Michelle Thorne, David Harvey (bagpipes), the Off Broadway Big Band, and Helen Lukman-Fox (organ). A bronze plaque honouring the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps will be unveiled. 

Guest addresses from Lieutenant Colonel David Foote, Georgina Greville (Middlemore Hospital), and Lieutenant Colonel Nick Jones.

We look forward to welcoming you into the warm, glowing, majestic and newly-restored Great Hall.

Please share this invitation with friends and family. Share the link AnzacEve2025

If you are a veteran or a current service member of the NZ Defence Forces, please advise us. We are here to recognize you, seat you in a reserved area, and assist if you have special access needs. contact@KahuiStDavids.nz

Art of Remembrance 2025 – ANZAC Tribute to New Zealand’s Nurses

MEDIA RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Annual commemorative event at Kāhui St David’s to mark Anzac Eve with a moving musical tribute featuring Soprano Felicity Tomkins, Michelle Thorne, and friends. A bronze plaque honouring the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps will be unveiled.

Auckland, New Zealand

To mark Anzac week, Kāhui St David’s, Auckland’s centre for music-making, inspiration and social connection, will host the 10th annual Art of Remembrance event on Anzac Eve, Thursday 24 April, with a powerful evening of music, reflection and tribute.

Event: Art of Remembrance 2025. ‘We will remember them”

When: Thursday 24 April | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Where: Kāhui St David’s, 70 Khyber Pass Road, Grafton, Auckland

Event News: https://www.kahuistdavids.nz/events/evening-of-remembrance

Please Register!

Free entry. All welcome.

Sappers! Members and associates of the Sappers Association (NZ) Inc and other service personnel, family and friends should register via the SappersNZ TidyHQ site so we can arrange special seating and acknowledgement.

Get Tickets (sappers, veterans, service personnel)

Alternative EventFinda RSVP

About Kāhui St David’s

St David’s Memorial Church, whose foundation stone was laid on Anzac Day 1927 as a memorial to World War One, was originally dedicated as The Soldiers’ Memorial Church. Today, it is home to Kāhui St David’s, a charitable trust serving as a place of remembrance for all branches of the New Zealand Defence Force. Furthermore, Kāhui St David’s is Auckland’s centre for cultural connection, community gathering, and a living memorial to the defence and civilian forces. 

Honouring the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps 

This year’s Art of Remembrance pays special tribute to the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, past and present, for their service in war, conflict and peacekeeping. The event also recognises the vital role nurses play across Aotearoa, providing care in hospitals and communities, both at home and abroad.

As part of this year’s commemoration, a bronze plaque dedicated to the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps will be unveiled and permanently installed in the Great Hall of Kāhui St David’s by Lieutenant Colonel David Foote, Chief Nursing Officer and RNZNC Regimental Colonel.  

Keynote Address

Georgina Greville, a senior nurse at Middlemore Hospital will prsent the Keynote Address. Her immediate family included five World War One service members. Georgina says, “There were two nurses, two doctors, and one soldier with the Auckland Mounted Rifles. My grandmother and sister were both nurses, serving in Egypt, Lemnos, and on the Western front, including at the Battle of the Somme.

“The role of nurses in conflict and peacekeeping has historically been overlooked for several reasons. Having this permanent display in the Great Hall of Kāhui St David’s, near the Lamp of Remembrance, the RNZE memorial window, the Sappers’ Chapel, and plaques dedicated to the 28th Māori Battalion and 29th and 30th Infantryn Battalions, will be deeply meaningful to all nurses.

“It recognises the contribution of nursing across all areas we serve, in both military and civilian contexts.

”Kāhui St David’s is located in Grafton, near the medical and nursing schools and Auckland Hospital.”

Paul Baragwanath, Director of Friends of St David’s Trust Kāhui Rangi Pūpū, says: “Nurses have served with courage and compassion in every major conflict New Zealand has faced. In our 10th year of the Art of Remembrance, we honour their legacy, their ongoing service, and their place at the heart of care, both in uniform and throughout our hospitals and communities. We also invite all nurses to regard Kāhui St David’s as their place, together with whānau of the RNZE (Royal New Zealand Engineers), 28 Battalion and Veterans.” 

The Art of Remembrance at Kāhui St David’s 

Since launching in 2015 with the Max Gimblett quatrefoil installation, the Art of Remembrance event has become a nationally recognised tradition. Brigadier Rose King, now Chief of Army, lit the Lamp of Remembrance as part of the Royal New Zealand Engineers 2023 Sappers’ Day. The lamp continues to shine daily at Kāhui St David’s, honouring all who serve in the Defence Forces, the veteran community, and those who served in earlier times.

Today, the building stands as a memorial for all branches of service. Many are expected to attend Art of Remembrance, experiencing the magnificent acoustics of his revitalised heritage space, with performances by Soprano Felicity Tomkins and Michelle Thorne, David Harvey on bagpipes, the Off Broadway Big Band, Helen Lukman-Fox on the 1905 Croft Organ and the audience singing together.

Paul Baragwanath concludes: “Kāhui St David’s is a place where remembrance lives on, through art, music, and community, and New Zealand’s military remembrance, including its special connection with the Royal New Zealand Engineers through Sappers Day, and the Lamp of Remembrance held in the Sappers Chapel.”

Order of Service

Download Order of Service

Press contact

Lindsay Stanley
lindsay@lspr.co.nz
+64 212 88 44 11

Volunteer or Donate

This year, Kāhui St David's has developed a nurses-themed commemoration for The Art of Remembrance 2025, Anzac Eve.

To make this event possible, we reach out for expressions of interest to sponsors and donors for support. It means a lot to Veterans.

Please donate, help as a volunteer, or purchase an artwork on the Kāhui  St David's website.  It is now a much-loved remembrance tradition. But we do need help in 2025 to deliver this and future events.

Previous Events and Further Information

Anzac Eve 2024 at Kāhui St David's (News and photos)

The Art of Remembrance with Kāhui St David's (The story of Kāhui St David's new life as a Living Memorial for Peace)

Purchase artwork on the Kāhui St David's website

Email contact@KahuiStDavids.nz

Sappers Everywhere! Angus Cathcart of AC Drainage restoring the sewage and stormwater system at the north end of St David's The Soldiers' Memorial Church, late 2025. The 'trench' is now secured beneath a fabulous quatre-foil (Flanders Field poppy-inspired) Garden.