Waipa mayor Susan O’Regan, Cambridge Community Board chair Jo Davies-Colley and Le Quesnoy mayor Marie Sophie Lesne with the poppy bowl gifted from Cambridge, New Zealand.
Cambridge Community Board chair Jo Davies-Colley heaved a sigh of relief last week when she was reunited with the handmade poppy bowl she sent to France five months ago.
“It arrived,” she told The News minutes after arriving in Le Quesnoy for the opening of Te Arawhata – New Zealand Liberation Museum.
She and Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan then gifted it to Marie-Sophie Lesne, mayor of Le Quesnoy before the formalities started.
Hokitika resident Jimmy Gordon made hundreds of poppy bowls out of recycled matai and pounamu during the pandemic and gave two to the Cambridge RSA who gifted one to Le Quesnoy.
Getting it there was a torturous process for Davies-Colley involving Customs’ clearance in both New Zealand and France.
The museum was blessed on October 10 after The News went to press last week by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae before the opening the following day. The blessing in Le Quesnoy also revealed the pounamu cleansing stone at the entrance of the museum which was donated by the rūnanga.
The project has been funded through donations – including $150,000 from Wāipa District Council – and fundraising continues with the aim of reaching beyond a $15 million target.
Cambridge has a long standing sister city relationship with Le Quesnoy set to be continued next month when officials visit for Armistice Day commemorations on November 10 and 11.
“It is really moving,” said O’Regan.
“It’s about the symbols and the themes and stories it (the museum) tells which is really unique and something we need to celebrate.”
Cambridge features prominently inside the museum’s Friendship Room
Former governor general Jerry Mateparae and Lesne opened the museum. Also present was Wāipa deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk.
The name of the museum was inspired by the inventive Kiwi soldiers who scaled the town walls with a ladder on November 4, 1918 to free Le Quesnoy from a four-year German occupation. No civilians were lost thanks to this creative strategy but many New Zealand soldiers were killed and are buried in the Le Quesnoy cemetery.
Alana Mackay, community board Sister Cities relationship liaison and Cambridge-Le Quesnoy Friendship Association chair has confirmed the Cambridge Brass Band will play a concert in the Town Hall on November 10 with Le Quesnoy representatives present.
Representatives from Bihoro in Japan, the town’s other Sister City, will visit Cambridge later next month.
See: Waipa delegation in Le Quesnoy.
See: Jimmy’s bowl heads to France
See: Don’t let the bed bugs bite
