On Saturday 22nd February...

...families and friends gathered at the Avonhead Cemetery for the annual family memorial service of the Christchurch Earthquake. This is a poignant reminder of the families who lost loved ones in the Christchurch earthquake of 2011.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to New Zealand, Ambassador OSAWA Makoto attended and as the ceremony was live streamed across the world, was able to address the families in Japan unable to be at the ceremony in person. Mayor Philip Mauger was also in attendance along with other representatives from community groups and various churches.

Middleton Grange School students had the honour of reading the names of the people who had lost their lives in the earthquake. The students involved were Lucas Bennetts (Head Boy), Shanna Moe (Head Girl), Zeph Atienza, Tongxi Fu, Haru Shirota, Pream Limpassorn and Gabby Gu. Some of the languages that were read included Māori, English, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean.