ANZAC Day 2008 in Flanders

                 The New Zealand Memorial at Messines
ANZAC Day services in Flanders will follow what has become the tradition, with the New Zealanders starting at Messines and the Australians at Tyne Cot, Passchendaele, before the two groups join for a service at the Menin Gate in Ypres.

New Zealanders attending the Messines ceremony will join wreath-laying at the municipal memorial before the service at the New Zealand Memorial. The Australians and New Zealanders will join at the Ypres Town Hall and will then march to the Menin Gate for a service which will include prayers, speeches and wreath-laying. Two New Zealand tenors, Warwick Mitchell and Don Currie, will sing a hymn and the Australian St Andrew's Choir will also perform. The Mayor of Ypres will later host a reception. ANZAC Day also sees the opening of the "Brave Little Belgium" exhibition at the Memorial Museum Passchendaele followed by a two-day programme of Museum Weekend activities. The New Zealander Heather Charlton (piano) and the Australian Wendy Quinlan (flute) will perform an ANZAC Day intermezzo for the 400 people invited to attend the official opening of the exhibition on the Friday evening.

The New Zealand Embassy will be providing a coach from Brussels for New Zealanders and their families. The programme for the ANZAC Day services is:

0630 Coach departs Embassy

0900 Arrival at Messines Town Hall

0905 Walk to the Municipal War Memorial. Wreath laying

0915 Depart for New Zealand Memorial, Nieuw-Zeelandersstraat

0925 Ceremony at the New Zealand Memorial followed by a short historical background presentation of New Zealand's involvement in the Battle of Messines

1000 Morning tea at the Ontmoetingscentrum, Korte Mooiestraat 7

1030 Depart for Ypres Town Hall to join Australians and the Ypres authorities

1100 March from Town Hall to the Menin Gate preceded by the Scherminkel band

1115 Ceremony at the Menin Gate. Prayers, speeches, wreath laying. Two New Zealand tenors, Warwick Mitchell and Don Currie, will sing a hymn and the Australian St Andrew's Choir will also perform

1135 March to Belgian Memorial for wreath laying.

1200 Reception in the Ypres Town Hall hosted by the Mayor of Ypres. Short speeches including two by New Zealand and Australian exchange students

1400 Coach departs Ypres for a short guided tour of Tyne Cot Cemetery via the New Zealand Memorial at 's Graventafel.

1515 Bus departs Tyne Cot Cemetery for Brussels