Photo of No. 3 Platoon, A Company of the RFTs with William Watkins in the centre of the back row. The Watkins family operated a timber mill for many years at 58 Wallis St (now site of Raglan Joinery)
The Raglan Museum is currently preparing for the WW1 Commemoration Exhibition which is due to be displayed in the museum from February 2015 (the 100th anniversary of the first engagement of New Zealand troops).
While we have had some very interesting photos and stories come forward to date as a result of a previous article in the Raglan Chronicle, we expect that there is a lot more stories and photographs that are in the possession of relatives and friends that are tucked away. This an opportunity to have your soldier relative remembered for all time, preserving his story, and also the stories about the mothers and families that were back here supporting the war years in Raglan.
While this exhibition will be on display for the 100th commemoration time, the stories and photos will become part of a permanent display in the museum we will be using touch screen presentation to display each soldier’s individual portrait and any information that we can gain from our research. While we can get some information from internet sources, such as the Auckland War memorial, photos of each soldier is important and many are not available from that source.
Like many of the Raglan men who fought in WW1, Willie Watkins died of wounds and never returned to NZ.
We are also preparing an audio-visual display and are looking for soldier’s relatives to volunteer to assist with this project by presenting stories that may have been passed on over the generations.
We are focussing this exhibition not only on the soldiers that enlisted from Raglan and district but will also be including those from families that lived in Raglan prior to 1914 and who have taken up residence here since the war years. We will not have any name to research for some of these so a phone call would be appreciated.
There is usually somebody at the museum on most mornings available to take calls on 825 8925 or leave a voice message. Or call Ken on 825 6553
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