Held on the eve of Anzac Day, Art of Remembrance is an event that pays tribute to service and sacrifice while celebrating the enduring Anzac spirit. Now in its eleventh year, it gathers community alongside veterans and serving personnel, mixing storytelling, performance, reflection and shared remembrance.
Kāhui St David’s is a significant home for the gathering given its origins as The Soldiers’ Memorial Church. Its foundation stone was laid on Anzac Day 1927 as a memorial to those who served in World War One.
This year’s Art of Remembrance focus is on the Royal New Zealand Engineers (RNZE), past and present.
The evening will unfold with an initial parade of veterans into the Great Hall and include tributes such as Last Post, Minute of Silence, The Rouse, and the ceremonial relighting of the Lamp of Remembrance for the year ahead.
It will also feature folk band Unsung Heroes performing original songs and readings from wartime letters, including Cameron Bennett, veteran foreign correspondent, whose ballad recounts a letter sent to his grandfather from the Western Front. Guitarist Chris Priestley has also written a song that tells his father’s story of the battle at Takrouna Hill in Tunisia.
Further performance will include David Harvey on Scottish bagpipes, pūoro by Riki Bennett, the University of Auckland Student Choir and hymns led by soprano Michelle Thorne-McHugh, the Off Broadway Big Band, and Helen Lukman-Fox on the great pipe organ.
Following the service, guests are invited to stay for light hospitality and explore the Art of Remembrance installation programme.
Art of Remembrance 2026 – We Will Remember Them
Friday 24 April at 7pm
Kāhui St David’s, 70 Khyber Pass Road, Grafton, Auckland
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can – all welcome via Humanitix
