Collingwood Cenotaph centenary

"Live and vocal" at Mussel Inn

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Redwood Reider makes music out of words and watches them dance to the musicians tune in a joyously, unrestrained show entitled "Live and Vocal".

A Golden Bay spoken word artist, Redwood will be the featured guest at Golden Bay Live Poets Society, Acid on the Microphone this month at the Mussel Inn and will take to the stage with friends, multi-instrumentalist Colm and guitarist Sol.

Redwood is a NZ Poetry Slam finalist, Golden Bay faithful and all-round weaver of words, that never fail to entertain, challenge, inspire and uplift live audiences.

“My rhymes grow out of a deep connection to earth,” explains Redwood. “A love of community and a passion for justice and healing of our inner and outer worlds are my drivers."

Local musicians Colm and Sol, will accompany Redwood with percussion and strings and promise a few surprises, including a couple of vocal embellishments.

“With Redwood backed by Colm and Sol, we are in for a magic night of words and music dancing together across the stage on a wild autumn night”, says Mark Raffills, spokesperson for Golden Bay Live Poets Society.

“And with Redwood’s show preceded by our very famous, 28-year-old, open mic session for poets and singer/ songwriters, it’s going to be another engaging and very entertaining night. You won’t want to miss it!”

Open mic will kick off around 7.30pm; participants should get in early on the night to book a spot. A short break slightly after 8pm before Redwood, Colm and Sol keep the acid on the microphone until the end of the night.

Thursday 20 April, 7.30pm at the Mussel Inn, $10.

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Collingwood is ever mindful of its rich and sometimes tragic history, none more so than the loss of its precious men to war. This ANZAC day marks 100 years of Collingwood’s cenotaph, built to commemorate those soldiers.

In 1900, local boy Ralph Vincent James died from typhoid while fighting in the Boer war; his body was never returned. In 1901, a memorial was erected for him by “public subscription” beside the new Collingwood Courthouse. Later, a second memorial was erected on the opposite corner to honour WW1 Army Lieutenant Harry Bolton Riley, a descendant of an early Collingwood family. Harry was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The war continued claiming lives, seriously depleting Collingwood’s population. One family, the Harvey’s, lost four sons, all serving in the same unit.

ANZAC came about from the allied military action of an Australian and New Zealand Army Corps fighting together on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey in 1915. By 1917 a commemorative ANZAC Day had been proposed, with shops observing a half-day holiday. However, erecting an ANZAC memorial was held off until the peace celebrations were over. Permission sought from the diocese for land was granted in 1921, and a cenotaph finally unveiled in 1923 at the war memorial reserve. The two earlier memorials remained on opposite corners of Gibbs Road and Elizabeth Street until 1993, when they were moved 60 meters up the road to flank the cenotaph.

RSA committee member Tessa Gillooly has long been passionate about ANZAC and Collingwood history. In 2015, she and Lydia Milne created an honours board to acknowledge those who served and returned from Gallipoli, installed at the 100th anniversary in the Collingwood Memorial Hall.

“We were an ANZAC family,” she explained. “Dad, his brothers, uncles, and cousins served. I’ve got family who didn’t come home. As children we all went to the services. Then in later years, we were part of cubs, scouts, brownies, and guides.

We marched, from the cenotaph down to the hall. We were so proud.”

Collingwood has one true ANZAC left who served in Vietnam: David Riley, a relative of Harry Bolton Riley. But Tessa worries about the future of ANZAC commemorations.

“It’s a different type of warfare now, in a different world. I don’t want ANZAC to ever be lost. I want it to be always acknowledged into the future. But there are different generations coming. Will it matter to them? It’s hard to know where it will go.”

Collingwood will hold its regular ANZAC service this year, but afterwards at the fondly labelled “after match function”, the story of the cenotaph’s history will be on display.

“We want to commemorate and acknowledge all soldiers who went to war, everyone we lost; all of the war returnees to every man. The focal point is 100 years of the cenotaph, but it doesn’t stand alone. It now holds names of soldiers from the Second World War. We will go there, and we will commemorate.”