TVAL parade through Wellington (and flight overhead)
Apr 12, 2015 22:42:39 GMT 12
ErrolC and oesau like this
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Apr 12, 2015 22:42:39 GMT 12
from The Dominion Post....
Wellington roads meet vintage trucks ahead of Anzac Day
A jubilant parade recreating World War One soldiers and
vehicles will wind through Wellington on Anzac Eve.
By ANDREA O'NEIL | 3:30PM - Sunday, 12 April 2015
1914 Dennis Bus is among the wartime
vehicles forming a pre-Anzac parade
this Friday. Training the drivers at
Kilbirnie on Saturday was Chris Gifford,
ground crew manager for Peter Jackson's
company The Vintage Aviator.
— Photo: Kevin Stent.
THEY were driving lessons with a difference — more than a dozen people were taught to handle century-old trucks and buses in Kilbirnie on Saturday ahead of an Anzac wartime parade.
The vehicles will be driven through Wellington on Anzac Eve, April 24th, carrying 100 World War One “soldiers” in uniform. The drivers, sourced through a Trade Me ad, will also be dressed for the era, and will hopefully have got the hang of non-power steering and hand-crank engine starters by then.
“They're quite a handful to drive,” said driving instructor Chris Gifford, ground crew manager for Kilbirnie company The Vintage Aviator.
“It's not a modern vehicle. It takes a while to go round the corner.”
The drivers, mostly truck drivers in real life, were raring to get behind the wheel, Gifford said.
“They're all really excited to drive an old vehicle like that. I think they'll really enjoy it.”
While some of the trucks were original, Gifford and his four colleagues built many using models and photos of wartime vehicles. Some had wartime parts and chassis, but the team built many hard-to-find features like wheels and radiators using cast moulds from original specimens, Gifford said. A truck took about three months to build, he said.
A selection of Sir Peter Jacksons collection of vintage vehicles will feature in Wellingtons Anzac Eve
Street Parade. A 1914 Dennis bus is driven along Kemp Street in Kilbirnie. — Photo: Kevin Stent.
The company, owned by filmmaker Peter Jackson, will provide 15 trucks and buses for the parade, plus four vehicles that will be stationary on Taranaki Street — two Mark IV tanks and two cannon.
The public may get a glimpse of the vehicles on April 23rd, when they leave Kilbirnie and drive to Westpac Stadium via Oriental Parade. At 12.30pm on the 24th, the convoy will leave Parliament, accompanied by brass bands, a six-horse gun carriage, and with vintage planes flying overhead. By 2pm the parade will reach the new Pukeahu war memorial park on Taranaki Street.
The Wellington City Council event was an homage to similar parades in WWI held when soldiers were dispatched to war or returned home. Various types of uniform would be worn by “extras”, including those worn by the New Zealand Native Corps and Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles.
The uniforms were recreated in WWI sizes, and small body types were needed to fill them, parade director Jamie Wilson said.
“There wasn't a pie shop around every corner back then, but there wasn't a gym around every corner either,” he said.
Upcoming Anzac commemorations include:
• Fields of Remembrance, an installation of 866 crosses at the Botanic Gardens. Open every day until after Anzac Day.
• Gallipoli – The scale of our war exhibition by Weta Workshop, opens April 18th at Te Papa.
• WWI Remembered: A Light and Sound Show, projected onto the Carillon and Dominion Museum, from April 18th to 25th, 7pm till 10pm.
• Opening of Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, April 18th at 11am. The Australian memorial will be dedicated on April 20th at 10am.
• The Great War exhibition, opens April 19th at the Dominion Museum.
• Anzac Eve Vigil Service at Wellington Cathedral, April 24th from 6pm till 8pm.
www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/67702220/wellington-roads-meet-vintage-trucks-ahead-of-anzac-day
