The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall Visit New Zealand – Day 1

0
1127

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL VISIT NEW ZEALAND

Auckland

Sunday 17th November

ENGAGEMENT 1

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall arrive in New Zealand

Their Royal Highnesses will arrive at Whenuapai, a Royal New Zealand Air Force Base in Auckland and be greeted by the Governor-General, Dame Patsy Reddy.

Their Royal Highnesses last visited Auckland during their tour of Australia and New Zealand in November 2015.

Video credit: The Royal Family Channel

Monday 18th November

ENGAGEMENT 2

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attend a wreath laying at Mount Roskill War Memorial

Their Royal Highnesses will pay their respects at a Memorial in the Mount Roskill neighbourhood of Auckland.

Their Royal Highnesses will arrive at the Mount Roskill War Memorial where they will be met by The Minister of Māori Crown Relations and his wife, The Honourable Mr. Kelvin Davis and Mrs. Davies, The High Commissioner of Niue and his wife, His Excellency Mr. Fisa Igilisi Pihigia and Mrs. Bonnie Pihigia.

The ceremony will commence with a drum roll and The New Zealand National Anthem will be sung before His Royal Highness lays a wreath. After pausing for a moment of reflection, the Last Post will sound, the New Zealand Niuean flags will be lowered to half mast and the call to remembrance will be read. A minutes silence will follow. Their Royal Highnesses will learn of the experience of Niue soldiers who served during World War I and Her Royal Highness will place a floral tribute on the memorial. Their Royal Highnesses will be introduced to Ode Readers and gathered veterans before departing.

The Mount Roskill area is known for its multicultural community. The cenotaph and nearby War Memorial Hall were originally completed in the 1950’s to complement the existing War Memorial Hall.

Mount Roskill is the site of a well-attended community ANZAC day commemoration each year.

In 2016 the Niuean memorial was erected in the park to acknowledge men from Niue who fought with New Zealand forces in World War I. The local community board had a vision for the War Memorial Park to recognise that the Mount Roskill area is culturally diverse, and to be a place where all parts of the community can come together to remember. The memorial records the names of 150 Niueans who were lost. The majority of Auckland’s Niuean community can trace their ancestry back to these men.

ENGAGEMENT 3

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visit Wesley Community Centre

Their Royal Highnesses will be met by The Place Manager Auckland Council, Mr. Michael Matheson and The Programme Co-ordinator, Auckland Council, Mr. Infay Wong See and move to the courtyard where the Mihi whakatau (greeting) will be performed. Their Royal Highnesses will then view a number of traditional dance performances. Their Royal Highnesses will move on to tour the facilities and meet groups that use the centre and represent a wide cross-section of the community.

The Community Centre is a vital hub for the local community. It sits where a community hall burned down in 1998 and now acts as a central meeting place for the community. It came about after a group of 10 teenagers from the area, spoke to the Auckland City Council about the need for them to have a place to gather and to engage in arts and activities following a fatal stabbing in 2002.

Along with multiple rooms for hire, the centre has the Creative Lab on site which includes a recording studio. The centre is also home to RYZ (Roskill Youth Zone) which offers activities such as Street Art, Screen Painting, Skate Board building and Bollywood Fitness.

The Centre provides weekly health and support services and a free legal advice service.

Groups that use the centre and that Their Royal Highnesses will visit include:

The Bike Kitchen: The Bike Kitchen runs the Bikes for Refugees programme, and any profits made are used to fund that programme. The Bike Kitchen also offers monthly bike servicing days, bike leasing and hire, bike safety programmes, organised community and family bike rides, and guided bike tours around Auckland.

RYZ FM: RYZ FM is the local community radio station. It is staffed by volunteers and its programmes focus on local community stories.

C3 Screen printing: C3 Screen Printing & Design is a community-oriented creative group who offer design and screen-printing services to the broader Auckland population. They also offer weekly screen-printing training sessions to local students and their families.

WISE (Women Inspired Strong Empowered and Enterprising): The WISE Collective, and Auckland Migrant and Refugee Training Enterprise Project (AMARTE), are both projects run by Belong Aotearoa, a specialist settlement agency that focuses on addressing the root and systemic causes of disparities and barriers to successful settlement and integration for newcomersIt leads workshops, community projects and social enterprise projects, which provide a safe space for women and children to access education, training, upskilling and enterprise opportunities.

AMARTE: AMARTE is a social enterprise project which offers refugee and migrant women free hospitality training, with a focus on barista coffee training and kiwi style baking, as well as language skills and hospitality industry requirements.

Global Hope Mission: Global Hope Mission is a faith-based youth development programme, providing support for young people and their families to help keep young people out of the justice system. They offer services including home visits, mentoring workshops, life-skills programmes, cultural dance, music and creative arts practice as well as sports activities. They also run the ARK project, a forum to bring together young social entrepreneurs once a month to support their development of projects as income and to benefit other local youth and the wider local community.

Tatau Dance Academy: Tatau Dance Academy teaches traditional dance to boys and young men aged 7 to 20 years. The focus is Samoan dance, but other Pacific and Māori styles are taught as well.

Kids Zone: RYZ hosts Kids Zone every Friday after school for children aged 7 to 12 years. The children have fun activities focused on creativity, arts and crafts, and sports.

ENGAGEMENT 4

The Prince of Wales visits Critical Design

His Royal Highness will meet, Rui Peng and Adam Ransfield who co-founded the company, Critical Design in 2013 with the aim of democratising manufacturing at the Design Centre. The Prince will meet staff and view a presentation and display on the waste problem and Critical Design’s solutions. His Royal Highness will proceed into the design workshop to walk through the recycling process.

Critical design is a Social Enterprise focused on achieving environmental sustainability through waste reduction and creating local employment opportunities. It uses innovative technology to turn plastic waste into material that can be used to manufacture other products. The core philosophy is to create a “circular economy” programme for corporate plastic users – companies, including a growing number of major corporates, send their plastic waste to Critical Design in order to have it transformed into goods (such as furniture or office supplies).

As 83% of waste is commercial, they focus on partnering with large corporations and significant brands to transform their plastic waste into useful and marketable products they then use or sell. The vision is that these companies are the solution to their own waste problem.

Critical’s workshop is based at the low-decile Wesley Intermediate School, where they have a partnership with the school, and design work is incorporated into the curriculum.

The Prince of Wales first spoke publically about his concerns regarding the impact of plastic pollution on the natural world in 1970. Since then, His Royal Highness has been an advocate for sustainability and waste reduction. Earlier this year, he visited Polymateria’s laboratories in London, and met a team of scientists who have been working on biodegradable technology for single use plastic. In January 2018, His Royal Highness delivered a speech at a Meeting of the International Sustainability Unit on ‘Keeping Plastics and Their Value in the Economy and Out of the Ocean’. In his speech The Prince discussed: “the very important matter of how we might take the necessary action to keep them [plastics] in the economy and out of the ocean – let alone how to remove as much of them as possible from the World’s Oceans.” His Royal Highness also said: “I am beginning to find some encouragement from the fact that a more integrated and joined-up approach is starting to unfold, with real leadership being shown by many individuals who are placing their intellectual, organizational, political and, indeed, financial capital into fostering integrated and collaborative efforts […] The nightmare result of eight million tonnes of plastic entering the Ocean every year is set to get worse rather than better. We cannot, indeed must not, allow this situation to continue.” Read the full speech here.

ENGAGEMENT 5

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visit the Hunting Lodge Winery

Their Royal Highnesses will join a gathering to celebrate sustainable produce with local food producers and members of the local community.

During the visit, Their Royal Highnesses will tour the vineyard with owners, Mr and Mrs Brett and Denise Sutton. They will proceed to the gardens and hear the story of the ‘Paddock to Table’ approach of the Hunting Lodge. They will then sample New Zealand’s first Sauvignon Blanc Vines and learn of the history of wine in the region. They will visit various food and wine stations set up by local food producers and wine makers and conclude the visit by making their own blend.

The Hunting Lodge was the first house built in the Waimauku area. The winery is the site of the first Sauvignon Blanc Grapes grown in New Zealand and located at the heart of Auckland’s wine country.

The Hunting Lodge has adopted a pasture-to-plate approach, producing as much food as possible onsite, and locally sourcing additional product. They have adopted numerous waste reduction and sustainability practices, including installing an aerobic industrial waste water treatment plant and developing a wetland for the treated water flow-on. The significant use of native flora has encouraged the re-establishment of native birds.

The Duchess has recently made a number of visits to local vineyards and wineries in the UK in her capacity as President of Wine GB.

25th September 2019 marked the 200th anniversary of the first planting of grapevines in New Zealand.

ENGAGEMENT 6

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attend The Queen’s Colour Ceremony at RNZAF Whenuapai Airbase

Their Royal Highnesses will be greeted on the parade ground by Air Vice Marshal Andrew Clark (Chief of Air Force) who will introduce Their Royal Highnesses to other members of the RNZAF. Elements of the Māori Welcome (Pōwhiri) will be explained to Their Royal Highnesses by Warrant Officer Nikau and His Royal Highness will participate in the Wero (Challenge) after which Their Royal Highnesses will be invited to hongi. His Royal Highness will take the Royal Salute, inspect the Guard of Honour and as Marshal of the RNZAF, will oversee the consecration and presentation of the Colour.

The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Edinburgh are Marshals of the RNZAF. A Colour is the highest honour which the Sovereign can bestow. During the 1953-54 Royal Tour of New Zealand, Queen Elizabeth II personally presented her Colour to the RNZAF. The presentation was made at Air Force Base Whenuapai during a ceremonial parade on 28th December 1953. As the Colour is now worn, a replacement has been received and is to be formally presented.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) (Māori: Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa), “New Zealand Warriors of the Sky”; previously Te Hokowhitu o Kahurangi, “War Party of the Blue” is the air force component of the New Zealand Defence Force. The RNZAF motto is the same as that of the Royal Air Force, Per ardua ad astra, meaning “Through adversity to the stars”.

ENGAGEMENT 7

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attend The Queen’s Colour Reception

Their Royal Highnesses will meet service personnel and their families at a small reception.

CATCH UP on the full New Zealand visit at the links below or for more of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall’s most recent engagements, get a copy of the latest issue of Royal Life.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 5 | Day 6

North of the Border - The Scottish Duke
Prince Charles is known as The Duke of Rothesay when visiting Scotland, and the UK’s northernmost country is a destination that has featured in his travels quite a lot recently, as we report here…
Previous articleThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Attend the Tusk Conservation Awards
Next articleThe Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall Visit New Zealand – Day 2