Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown will be among guest speakers at a civic service and wreath laying ceremony at the Ashburton Cenotaph, Baring Square West, on Anzac Day, Thursday 25 April.

The civic service is at 11am; a dawn service will be held earlier at the cenotaph at 6.30am.

Roads around Baring Square West will be closed while the services take place and traffic de-tours will be in place.

Roads to be closed from 6am to 8.30am and from 10am to 12.30pm on Thursday 25 April are:

• West Street (State Highway 1), from Havelock Street to Cameron Street
• Havelock Street, from Park Street to East Street Intersection
• Cameron Street, from West Street (SH1) to Park Street
• Baring Square West, from Havelock Street to Cameron Street

South-bound traffic will be detoured around Wills Street, Park Street and Burnett Street while the two services are held, and north-bound traffic will be detoured around Tancred Street, Park Street and Wills Street.

The Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum is hosting a special Anzac Day talk, with guest speaker Elizabeth Ward talking about the women who stepped into traditionally male jobs during the Second World War. It aligns with a current exhibition at the museum.

The talk starts at 2pm and is free, and is open to the public.

From January 1942, the New Zealand Government was able to direct women to work in essential industries. This saw many women working in jobs which prior to the war had been seen as male occupations.

However the gender norms of the 1930s and 1940s had already been called into question in 1940 when the Women's Land Corp was set up. Land girls often took on farm work which had previously been considered the domain of men.

The Anzac Day talk will examine how the “manpowering” of women upset gender norms and the issues this raised for New Zealand society.

The public holiday on Anzac Day, Thursday 25 April, will also see some temporary changes to a few Council services and facilities.

Rubbish & Recycling

There will be no change to kerbside collection on Thursday; put your bin out as normal.

Resource Recovery Parks

The Ashburton Resource Recovery Park will be open from 1pm-5pm.

Ashburton Library

The Ashburton Library, in Te Whare Whakatere, will be closed on Anzac Day.

Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum

The Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum will be open from 1pm until 4pm.

Aligning with Anzac Day, the museum has an exhibition about Land Girls, the unsung heroes of New Zealand’s WWII home front efforts. The Women’s Land Service was formed in 1942 and played a vital role in the country’s agricultural and food production industries while men served in the armed forces overseas.

The Home Front Heroines exhibition is on until 30 June and looks at the personal stories of noble, hard-working Ashburton women who also served their country.

An exhibition about the Ng King Bros Chinese Market Garden Settlement remains popular and coincides with the site opening as a heritage park recently. The exhibition runs until 12 May – you can check out the park on Allens Road at any time.

EA Networks Centre

EA Networks Centre will be open from 1pm until 7pm. There will be no swim school lessons on Anzac Day.
Group fitness classes on Anzac Day are: Yoga (community room) 5.30pm, Revolution 5.30pm, AquaHit 5.45pm, Aqua Boards 6.30pm.

Mt Hutt Memorial Hall/Methven iHub

The hall will be open from 10am until 2pm on Anzac Day. Methven’s Anzac Day service will be held at the front entrance of the hall at 10am – the parade starts at the memorial arch at 9.30am.

Customer Services

Council’s Customer Services on Baring Square East will be closed on Anzac Day, Thursday 25 April.

If you have a problem or urgently need to contact us, then the afterhours/24 hours-a-day service will be operating - please phone 03 307 7700.

Emails, Snap Send Solves and website requests will be cleared when the office opens for business as usual on Friday.

Public toilets around the district will be open daily as usual on Anzac Day.