Annual ANZAC Service - April 2009
Cannock Chase was the location of one of the several giant training camps established in the Great War. By the end of the war, it had become the size of a small town, comprising, in addition to the hutted accomodation shops, NAAFIs, workshops, a cinema, a hospital, and even its own railway.
One of the colonial regiments which made their "home" there throughout the war was the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and the CWGC cemetry on the Chase is the final resting place of many New Zealanders, as well as other UK and overseas soldiers.
The West Midlands Branch of the Military Historical Society re-established the annual ANZAC Day service at the CWGC cemetry on Cannock Chase in the 1970s, and remains involved each year. The organisation of the event was taken up by the local Royal British Legion, and has continued to take place on the Sunday closest to ANZAC Day (25 April) up to the present time.
It is always well attended by local people and organisations, ex-service men and women, as well as representatives from the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions.
Captain Roger Kidd, Janet Elson and Kevin Kay.
Chris Coogan (Branch Chairman), his wife and their friends from the USA.
Janet Elson reads the exhortation
The Padre addresses the assembled crowd.
The parade passes the civic dignitaries.
The Service.
Great War re-enactors.