May 2025 Newsletter #17

• Statue of Sir Keith on display in Auckland until late-August
• ANZAC Commemorations and spreading the word
• Portraits by Lois Cordelia

• Rt. Hon. Judith Collins social media posts – a huge boost to our project
• Battle of Britain Commemorations
• Still need $35,000 to complete

The statue of ACM Sir Keith Park, which will complete the Memorial in his honour at the Thames Airfield, is presently on temporary display at the Officers’/Northern Club in the Auckland CBD.

On Monday 19th May, the statue will be relocated to be on temporary display from Tuesday 20th May in the foyer of the Vero Centre, 48 Shortland Street in the Auckland CBD. There, it will remain on public display until late-August, when it will be transported by Kiwitrans to Thames and installed with the Hurricane Fighter to complete the Memorial to Sir Keith.

I was invited to address the Thames ANZAC Parade on Friday 25th April. This was most appropriate, given that Park was an ANZAC Veteran in WW1, landing at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915. I read extracts of a diary from Park’s commanding officer, Captain Reg Miles, which I had only acquired a couple of weeks earlier.

An Englishman – Neville Stein – who commissioned the paintings of Sir Keith (see below) was staying with me in Thames. He was delighted to have the honour of laying the SKPMA Inc. wreath at the existing statue of Sir Keith as a part of the Thames ANZAC Service.

On Monday 28th April, I participated in the King’s School ANZAC Chapel Service (Friday 25th having been a School holiday). After the Service, I was able to talk with about 90 senior students about Sir Keith, reinforcing a stream of current School historical studies. Some 300 educational hand-outs (prepared by Sally Muir and Gail Loanne, who develop such material for the Ministry of Education) were distributed, in the expectation that these would go home and seed discussions on the topic with parents.

Thursday 8th May, I will be addressing the VE Commemorations at the Waikare Golf Club, Te Kauwhata.

Monday 12th May, I will be addressing over one hundred registered guests of the History Club at the Northern Club. A 16-minute video produced for the UK “History Briefs” series in 2023, will be the introduction to this address. The video is available via the link below:

Tuesday 20th May, I will be addressing a Welcoming Gathering at the Vero Centre, to present and welcome the statue to the Centre tenants.

I see that such forums are a fundamental component of our project to spread the word about Sir Keith, and gain (or perhaps re-gain) acknowledgement of his auspicious lifetime achievements. His legacy is an essential example to all young New Zealanders.

Neville Stein (as mentioned above) was recently visiting New Zealand and staying with Prue and I here in Thames. After a previous visit, Neville commissioned a beautiful portrait of Sir Keith by UK Artist – Lois Cordelia, and mailed it to me last year. On his visit this year, he presented me with a second portrait. By way of a significant contribution from Kyie Gunn, this pair of original portraits, painted on bamboo, have now been framed, and will be hung at The Aviator, on loan.

(Please excuse the shadows on the photo . . . !!)

Neville sent a smaller copy of the LH portrait to the Minister of Defence, Rt. Hon. Judith Collins when here was in Thames, with a covering letter. This seems to have hit the mark, as the two social media posts from the Minister (attached below) would indicate.
This, along with the Minister’s attendance at the Thames Battle of Britain Commemorations, is a huge boost to the exposure of our project.

Commemorations to be held at the Thames Airfield Sunday 14th September 2025. This event will also include the unveiling of the statue of ACM Sir Keith Park, and the inauguration of the completed Memorial by The Right Reverend Ross Bay, the Anglican Bishop of Auckland.

Rt. Hon. Judith Collins, Minister of Defence will be in attendance, and will assist in the unveiling of the statue with Lesley Park.

Further details will be advertised as planning progresses.

Malta endeavours to gain greater recognition of Sir Keith, and his salvation of the country in WW2, are on hold for the moment, mainly due to some negative feedback about all things British within the country. But that is another issue . . !!

About $525,000 has been raised to date to erect a Memorial to ACM Sir Keith Park in his home town of Thames, Coromandel.

Why are we doing this?

To memorialise his legacy for all future generations of young new Zealanders. A legacy based on the characteristics which enabled him to achieve the auspicious achievements that we are now acknowledging:

• Leadership
• Integrity
• Ethics and morals
• Courage and commitment, yet
• Compassion and humanity

Some $35,000 is still needed to complete this project. Don’t let this become a barrier to completing the job that we undertook in October 2019.

Please – donate now !!! Bank details on our “Support” page.