The public holiday on Anzac Day 2025 will bring some changes to Council services and facilities.

The Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum and EA Networks Centre will both be open on Anzac Day, but the Ashburton Library and civic centre will be closed. There are no changes to kerbside collection services.

Residents will have the chance to remember New Zealand’s fallen soldiers on Friday, starting with the dawn service at the Ashburton Cenotaph at Baring Square West at 6.30am.

Deputy Mayor Liz McMillan will attend the early morning service, as well as the 7.30am service at the Hakatere Marae.

Mayor Neil Brown will be the guest speaker at Methven's commemorative service, and at the civic service and wreath-laying at the Ashburton Cenotaph at 11am.

This year, Anzac Day marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Temporary road closures will be in place for Anzac Day ceremonies at Baring Square West, for the dawn and civic services.

The art gallery and museum is inviting people to join them for a special Anzac Day talk with Sarah Johnston, at 2pm. The facility will be open from 1-4pm.

Sound historian Sarah is researching recordings made between 1940-1945 by New Zealand’s mobile broadcasting units, which travelled overseas with our forces.

She will shed light on recordings the broadcasters made of New Zealand nurses. Courtesy of RNZ and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, she will play some of these 80-year-old recordings and talk about the men and women who we hear in them.

The nurses' recordings are part of a wider Anzac Day exhibition, Land, Sea and Air, which explores the stories of four Ashburton people who put themselves in danger during the Second World War.

The exhibition will run until 25 May, though the art gallery and museum will close for two weeks from 28 April while its reception areas are merged.

Anzac Day services in the district

• Ashburton RSA Dawn service at Ashburton Cenotaph Baring Square West, at 6.30am.
• Hakatere Marae service begins at 7.30am.
• Ashburton RSA Cemetery service at 9am at the service persons’ section.
• Methven service, march at 9.30am, service at Mt Hutt Memorial Hall at 10am.
• Mayfield and districts service in Mayfield Memorial Hall at 10am. Artillery gun salute in Mayfield Domain at 11am.
• Hinds commemorative service will be at the Hinds Hall at 10am.
• Lauriston service at Lauriston Memorial Hall at 10am.
• Rakaia service at 10.15am at the Rakaia Community Centre, wreath laying service to follow.
• Ashburton RSA Civic service and wreath laying at Ashburton Cenotaph Baring Square West, starting 11am.

Rubbish & Recycling

There will be no change to kerbside collections on Anzac Day so put your bins out as normal. The Ashburton Resource Recovery Park will be closed on Anzac Day.

EA Networks Centre

EA Networks Centre will be open on Anzac Day from 1pm-7pm (pools and gym close an hour earlier at 6pm).

Customer Services

Council’s Customer Services counter at Te Whare Whakatere, Baring Square East, will close at 5pm on Thursday 24 April, and re-open at 8.30am on Monday 28 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.