Palmerston North Returned
and Services Association (2014) Inc
24 Linton Street, Palmerston North 4440
Venue: Bowls PN, PNRSA Club evenings at the Bowls Lounge 4.30pm on Wednesday’s.
Office days: Monday and Friday 1.00pm – 3.00pm. Except Public Holidays
NO EFTPOS AVAILABLE AT OUR OFFICE
Website: www.pnrsa.org.nz PNRSA Email: rsa@inspire.net.nz Office Phone 354 8271
August Newsletter
~ RSA AGM 20 September @ 11am ~
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2025-26 Membership Subscriptions are now due
$35 for members under 80 years of age.
$20 for members over 80 years of age and widows of returned or service members, up to 90 years of age.
Free for members over 90 years of age and serving New Zealand Defence Force or New Zealand Police members. (Request these members contact us and register their interest in retaining membership).
You can either pay in cash by visiting the office during opening hours (Correct cash only – no eftpos available) or via internet banking to our ANZ account 06-0746-0384063-00 for the Palmerston North RSA (2014) Inc.
Please remember to include your name and 4-digit membership number as reference when paying via internet banking so as we can identify who the payment relates to.
Thank you to those that have already paid.
Brian Gemmell, Treasurer.
If you have any problems please email our Secretary, Rosemary on rsa@inspire.net.nz
Already paid?
Your Membership Card maybe available on Wednesday night or at our office please ring before you go to collect.
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PNRSA WELFARE TRUST
9am - 11am Tuesdays at the Senior Citizens Lounge
opposite the Globe Theatre, Main Street, Palmerston North
Albie Armstrong 06 358 6881 ~ Trevor Gillbanks 022 105 2316
~ Volunteers Required ~
The Palmerston North RSA Welfare Trust are looking for Volunteers:
We require Volunteers for Hospital Visits, Rest Homes and also people to assist with Poppy Day.
If you are interested, please call into the Senior Citizens Lounge, Palmerston North
on any Tuesday between 9 and 11am.
Or contact Trevor 022 105 2316 or Evan 027 647 4337
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~ Presidents Message ~
Greetings Everyone
We have been reminded that winter is not over yet and that the cold and flu season is certainly ongoing.
On the welfare front:- Murray Batten seems to have recovered well and Brian Gemmell is over the worst of his radiation side effects. Bruce Ayers has had several spells in hospital but seems to be on the mend now.
However Diane Ayers had a fall and has hurt her back but is resting at home.
Elaine O’Brien has also ended up in hospital and I haven’t heard how she is doing, but she did expect to be home soon.
The cold weather has seen a reduction in numbers on Wednesday nights. However, we did have a good turn out two weeks ago for our cooks’ night off at China Town and once again it was a good night out. Thanks to Marj Fox for organising it. Next week is members’ draw so be there to be in!
There will also be a cooks’ night off on Wednesday 9 September with Gary Fryer’s Blackboard Menu. As you will see in this newsletter there is a reminder of our AGM on Sunday 20 September at 1100.
We are still in the dark regarding our situation with Inland Revenue. Brian has been in touch with them several times but always gets told that the person he is talking to is not high enough up the hierarchy to advise!.
We have also had a rather unwelcome bit of news from National Office. They have suddenly advised that the Poppy Places Trust has closed. This was unexpected particularly as we had planned to unveil some new places at Remembrance Day.
A few of us have spoken to the chairman of the Board and it appears that the Board considers that continuing the Trust is an expense they don’t need and the Trust should really be something that falls under Culture and Heritage. We are still trying to lobby against this decision.
Some military history comments for August.– The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945), leading directly to Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's surrender on August 15. Enola Gay dropped a uranium bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on August 6, 1945. It killed roughly 80,000 people instantly, with total deaths eventually reaching over 100,000 from the blast, fires, and radiation sickness. A second B-29 named Bockscar dropped a plutonium bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" on August 9, 1945, targeting the city after weather obscured the primary target of Kokura. It instantly killed an estimated 40,000 to 60,000.
On 25 August 1917 two of the great poets of World War 1 met – Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Sassoon enlisted in 1914 was commissioned and was twice wounded. He was awarded the Military Cross for having brought back a wounded soldier under fire and his lack of self-preservation earned him the nick name “Mad Jack”. He became widely known for his antiwar poetry and in June 1917, he wrote a letter stating:- “I believe that the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.”
The letter was read out in the House of Commons. He was due to be court-martialled, but another war poet Robert Graves, persuaded the authorities that he was suffering from shell shock and he was admitted to Craiglockhart hospital where he met Owen. It was said that he had thrown his MC into the river Mersey as a sign of protest, but it was only the ribbon from his tunic as in 2007 his medal was found in the attic of a house. It was due to be auctioned off as was expected to fetch more than 25,000.00 pounds. However the medal was sent to the Royal Welch Fusiliers museum, where it remains on permanent display. Sassoon died in 1967 aged 81.
He wrote of the horrors and brutality of trench warfare and contemptuously satirised generals and politicians as epitomised in his poem The General.
“Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,
And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He's a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.
But he did for them both by his plan of attack.
Wilfred Owen enlisted in the Manchester Regiment in 1915 as a subaltern. He too was wounded on the Western Front and also ended up a Craiglockhart hospital like Sassoon. He came to decry the carnage of the war. But returned to the front in August 1918 and in October of that year was responsible for leading his men to storm enemy strong points and capture a German machine gun nest. For this, he like Sassoon was awarded the Military Cross. He was killed on the banks of the Sambre canal on November 4 1918 – one week before the Armistice. He wrote poetry depicting graphic scenes with emotion. I particularly like the alliteration in Anthem for Doomed Youth:
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
On an entirely different aspect, on 27 August 1896 the shortest war in history took place. The pro – British Sultan of Zanzibar Hamid bin Thuwaini died unexpectly. Kalid bin Barghash seized the palace and took power without Britian’s approval. Britain demanded that he step down by 0900 on August 27th Kalid refused and locked himself in his palace. Two minutes later the British warships in the harbour opened fire and it was all over after 40 minutes. The Royal Naval ships present were:-
HMS St George – A first-class cruiser serving as the flagship of the Cape and East Africa Station.
HMS Philomel – A third-class Pearl-class cruiser.
HMS Racoon – A Archer-class torpedo gunboat (often spelled Raccoon).
HMS Sparrow – A Blenheim-class composite gunboat.
HMS Thrush – A Redbreast-class composite gunboat
HMS Philomel was later handed over to the New Zealand Navy and later recommissioned as a training base and decommissioned in 1947. Now HMNZS Philomel is a stone frigate and is the administrative base for the Royal New Zealand Navy at Devonport.
HMS Sparrow was also sold to the New Zealand Navy in 1905. In 1906, she became the HMNZS Amokura. She was later sold as a coal hulk and in 1953 towed to Kenepuru Sound where she was used as a store hulk and jetty. The remains of her can still be found in the Marlborough Sounds.
Lest We Forget!
I think that’s more than enough for now. See you at the Club!
Peter
PS A closed mouth gathers no feet!
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Check out the PNRSA Website to see if I have taken your photo!
All recent events have been loaded onto our Website. https://pnrsa.org.nz
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Notice is hereby given that the
Annual General Meeting
of the
Palmerston North RSA (2014) Inc
will be held on Sunday 20 September 2026 at 1100 hrs
at the PNRSA Club Rooms, Bowls Palmerston North,
24 Linton Street, Palmerston North.
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PNCC MILITARY HERITAGE/HISTORY, ANNIVERSARY AND COMMEMORATION PROGRAMME FOR 2026
This programme follows on from the approved and successful previous activity listings. It includes the military history presentations known as the “Evening Public Lecture Presentations” (EPLP) and the “Monthly Midday Military History Presentations” (MMMHP) series. There are also “Major City Events” as shown below and other related NZDF and military historical anniversaries, activities, and events. Rather than a five-year rolling programme, PNDHAG members decided in 2025 to follow the annual “RNZRSA Remembrance Calendar” and significant military commemorations and historical anniversaries. Separate invitations will follow and confirm dates, timings, and venues, together with any associated booking, RSVP and/or health and safety requirements.
Updated 2026 Programme:
3 Sep – (Thu) Merchant Navy Day
10 Sep (Thu - MMMHP) – “40th Anniversary of ANZUS Security Pact Suspension in 1986”, by Dr Nina Harding, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Massey University
22 Sep (Tue – EPLP) – “110th Anniversary of the Formation of the NZ Division on the Western Front and activities on the Somme”, by LTCOL (Rtd) Prof Glyn Harper, QSM, PhD
8 Oct (Thu - MMMHP) – “NZ Wars Month - 140th Anniversary of the Transfer of the Armed Constabulary to the Permanent Militia (by the Defence Act of 1886)”, by COL Dr Peter Wood, ONZM, NZ Army Standby Reserve
20 Oct (Tue – EPLP) – 110th Anniversary – “From Romani to Rafa: NZ’s Forgotten Sinai Desert Campaign of 1916”, by LTCOL (Rtd) Prof Glyn Harper, QSM, PhD (Note topic change)
11 Nov (Wed - EPLP) – Remembrance Day – “110th Anniversary of the Engineer Tunnelling Company Operating on the Western Front”, by Peter Cooke, Renowned NZ Military Historian
26 Nov (Thu – MMMHP) - “60th Anniversary of 161 Battery, RNZA, Supporting 1 ATF at the Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam”, by WO1 (Rtd) Dave Hayward, MBE, MSM, RNZIR, former Sergeant Major of the NZ Army and Renowned NZ Author
MMMHP sessions are normally held at midday on the second Thu in each month, Feb through Nov 26. EPLP sessions are being held on Tue evenings in Mar, Apr, Sep, Oct and Nov 2026. All presentations will be held in the PN City Library Mezzanine Floor (unless advised otherwise). Other military history presentations by visiting historians and book launches/releases are also programmed throughout each year and will be advised separately. Event invite posters will confirm all timings and venues for these activities.
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COMING UP IN AUGUST @ 4.30pm Wednesday Evenings
2 September Yap Yap
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9 September
COOKS NIGHT OFF
Blackboard Menu with Gary & Mere
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16 September Yap Yap
~ RSA AGM 20 September @ 11am ~
23 September Yap Yap
30 September Members Draw