March 14, 2014
Battalion concert moved
A concert planned for Te Waimate Mission Station has been moved to the Turner Centre in Kerikeri because of the impending Cyclone Lusi.
Tomorrows concert of opera and waiata involves the Leadership Academy of A Company and Opera North.
It's to raise funds so 25 of the students can travel to Italy in May for commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino, where many of their tupuna fought in the 28 Maori Battalion.
Academy leader Ken Tipene says the achievements of the battalion are a continuing inspiration for whatever the boys want to do.
"The academy was set up to help our cadets and their whanau achieve their dreams and aspirations so it uses a quasi-military approach to just provide the structures and the routines we think are needed for our boys, but we are not preparing them for the forces. In fact three of the graduates from our original class are at university at Otago," he says.
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