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While disasters can strike our region or the country, impact is always felt at the community level. Here is news from our communities. Earthquake Survivors Afternoon Tea
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| Over 200 survivors of the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake gathered with family and friends at Napier Boys' High School for the annual commemorative afternoon tea. |
The annual 1931 Earthquake Survivors Afternoon Tea was held on Sunday 10 February 2013. The event is an opportunity for people who came through the 1931 earthquake as young people to share their memories and catch up with old friends.
“This has been a very popular and enjoyable occasion over the years as our older citizens take the opportunity to get together and share memories of this important event in their lives,” says Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott.
The afternoon tea has some traditions, such as the Mayor’s cake being cut by the oldest and youngest survivors before tea, sandwiches and cakes are served by volunteers. The afternoon tea was hosted again by Napier Boys High School, but this time in the school gym as earthquake strengthening work is completed on their Henderson Hall. The Hawke’s Bay branch of the Red Cross provided guests with name tags that were replicas of the ones used for evacuees in 1931; the NZ Red Cross was established directly as a result of the 1931 earthquake.
The afternoon tea is organised jointly by Napier City Council, HB CDEM Group, the Hawke’s Bay Art Deco Trust, Hawke’s Bay Red Cross, and Napier Boys’ High School. “The afternoon is a friendly, community event and made possible by the generosity of many other organisations and businesses who help make this a special event for our special senior citizens,” said Mayor Arnott.Volunteers' Long Service Recognised at Awards Night
Three Napier Civil Defence volunteers were presented with Long Service awards on 3 December 2012 in recognition of their dedication and commitment to the Napier CD organisation.
Minister of Civil Defence, Chris Tremain and Director of Civil Defence, John Hamilton, along with Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott, presented the awards at a formal ceremony held at the Napier City Council Chamber held especially for the volunteers.
Volunteers Eric Lamb, Lesley Harrison and Anthony Ganderton were presented with 30, 20 and 10 year awards respectively.
2012 has been an extremely busy year for Napier Civil Defence and the volunteers who have worked tirelessly gaining NZQA unit standards in order for them to fully competent in responding to a Civil Defence emergency.
“Our Civil Defence organisation relies on volunteers to staff our civil defence centres and emergency operations centre,” Community Development Manager, Antoinette Campbell says. “They undertake regular training, perform duties that maintain the organisation on a daily basis and commit themselves to being available during times of community crisis.
“This year we have successfully recruited another 30 new volunteers who join the 48 current volunteers. These include 14 dedicated to the satellite communications trailer.
“This ceremony is our way of showing how much we value the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, along with recognising the number of years they have dedicated to the service,” Antoinette says.
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