First donation to the fund
Caption
Keith Baker was first to The Chronicle's office with a donation within hours of the appeal to update the Levin War Memorial in thepublic gardens being launched.
First donation for cenotaph upgrade
It's one down 999 to go.
The appeal for the update of the cenotaph in the Levin Public Gardens got off to a good start on Wednesday with a $100 donation from a Chronicle reader.
Within hours of the paper being delivered Keith Baker called in at our office with his donation.
Mr Baker said he had read the report in The Chronicle and approved of Adopt an Anzac's project.
"I think the second world war casualties should be at the gardens - I fully support that."
Mr Baker was in the air force at the end of World War II but didn't serve overseas.
"I think it is good for the cenotaph to be undated and to become something for people to be proud of," he said.
Adopt an Anzac needs $100,000 to add four plaques on two curved walls behind the cenotaph which will include the names of local men who died in World War II as well as men from the Boer War, World War I and the Korean War who are not recorded on any local memorial.
The landscaping of the area with a sloping lawn and tiered steps to the base of the cenotaph and a new poppy box memorial plaza are also part of the project.
The Chronicle has got behind the appeal in the same way the newspaper did in 1920 when 1000 pounds was sought to build the World War I cenotaph in the gardens
Under the heading "For Remembrance, Fallen Soldiers Memorial, An Appeal to Town and Country" the newspaper of September 3 1920 asked for public support in raising the money to build it.
"The committee considers that anything in the nature of a general canvass for funds is not necessary or desirable and that the spontaneous gifts of a generous public will be all sufficient for the objective aimed at," the story said.
Each day the paper listed the donations.
Among those who subscribed were families of the men who died and were named on the cenotaph - Mr and Mrs F Gorringe, Mr and Mrs J Jebbell, Mr W G Adkin, Mrs Geo Astridge, J Gordon-Glassford and a number of early residents of the town including newspaper proprietors H G Kerslake and R H Billens, Mrs James Prouse, W Donnelly, Mrs Kilsby senior, Harvey and Co Ltd, C Blenkhorn, Mrs Norman Kirkcaldie and W M Clark.
Donations ranged from one pound to 25 pounds and included 15 pounds raised by the children's victory ball through the treasurer Mrs W M Clark.
In 2008 the total needed for the upgrade and landscaping of the cenotaph is $100,000 but Adopt an Anzac hopes to reduce that by securing donations of labour, machinery and materials.
Courtesy of the Chronicle, Levin
Harold Beauchamp Trust Fund
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