The First World War roll of honour in St George’s Anglican Church, Patea, is a three-panel wooden tablet inscribed ‘He serves most who serves his country best’. The central panel lists the names of 23 men from the congregation who were killed or died of wounds. These are flanked by the names of 87 men and one woman (Nurse I.C. [I.K.] Honeyfield) who also served. Two further panels were added after the Second World War, one of which is inscribed, ‘In honour of those of this parish who served their King & Country in the Second World War, 1939-1945’, the other ‘In memory of those who served overseas and made the supreme sacrifice’ (15 names).
The church also displays a brass memorial tablet dedicated to the memory of Godfrey B. Richards, who was killed in action in France on 4 February 1917.
Images and text: Bruce Ringer, 2017