Passchendaele concert, Belgium - October 4, 07

[Stephany]

Hi everyone,

I understand that Chris and Joyce are going. Who else from HWI?

Stephany

[dutchjoyce]

Not more members going??
I'll do my best to make pictures, but you'll have to wait till sunday evening!! On friday i will go with my friends to Brussels and on Saturday we will visit Antwerpen(Ansvers).I will be back in Holland sunday evening. Greetz JOYCE
..............10 days to go !!!!!

[Stephany]

Hi Joyce, Chris and everybody! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Hayley will be so surprised to see HWI members over there!

If I remember well, it is already (at least!) her fifth time in Belgium. She was there for the Il Divo concert and came back to record the song 'A sparkle in her eyes'. Then she shot the music video with Helmut Lotti and also attended the singer's CD launch.

I see that Prime Minister Helen Clark plans to attend the ceremony on October 4th and then is going to Paris for the Giant Rugby Ball launch on October 5th. Hopefully she will take Hayley in her luggage
Sorry I'm off topic

Have a good time in Belgium and please don't forget to pay our respects to the Kiwi fighters for us.

Stephany

[drew]

Next week and I've picked up an extra job, photographing a rather superb New Zealand singer ... and so that life is becoming rather delightful.

womanwandering.blogspot.com/2007/09/crazy-busy-delicious-days.html

[Dave]

Hi Drew,

It certainly sounds like it will be Hayley, good spot.

I've turned your quote from the blog into.... a quote!

Cheers, Dave

[Stephany]

Great find, Drew!
It is definitely Hayley. When you do a search on Google, you can read on the page cache:

Next week and I've picked up an extra job, photographing Hayley Westenra.

....and on the Sept 27th entry, you can read:

This week I'm photographing an African cultural group here in the city of Antwerp, next week I'm out working Flanders Fields, involved in the 90th commemorations of the battle of Passchendaele and then there's the latest job as photographer at an interview with singer Hayley Westenra.

Stephany

[drew]

This week I'm photographing an African cultural group here in the city of Antwerp, next week I'm out working Flanders Fields, involved in the 90th commemorations of the battle of Passchendaele and then there's the latest job as photographer at an interview with singer Hayley Westenra.

womanwanderingphotographyblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/little-of-my-life.html

Not a generic New Zealand singer this time.
Better watch Di's website after the event.
www.dimackeyphotography.com/
And anyone going to Passchedaele, watch out for Di.

Thanks Stephany. I was re-formatting my second quote to keep Dave happy whilst you posted.

[grant]

Just for a moment there Drew, I thought you were saying you had picked up a Job photographing a New Zealand singer!!

I might then have been a tad jealous!

Best wishes
Grant

[Dave]

drew said:

Thanks Stephany. I was re-formatting my second quote to keep Dave happy whilst you posted.

I am sure the real reason you reformatted it as a quote is because it is a quote. Quotation marks without formatting are OK, too.

Dave

[Stephany]

A brief mention of Hayley performing in Belgium:

Belgium visit for 90th anniversary of Passchendaele
By LAUREN OWENS
1 October 2007
Bay of Plenty Times
Copyright 2007 APN New Zealand Ltd - Regionals. All Rights Reserved

Veteran Doug Froggatt knows first-hand the horror of battlefields but he still can not comprehend the slaying of more than 800 New Zealanders in one day.

The 85-year-old Tauranga man, who fought in World War 2, is now on his way to Belgium alongside nine other veterans to commemorate the 90th anniversary of one of our country's greatest tragedies - the Battle of Passchendaele.

Despite surviving nearly four years of battle in Egypt and Italy himself during World War 2, the tales told to him as a teenager about the Battle of Passchendaele have remained with him throughout his years.

Less well known than Gallipoli, the battle in 1917 ended with a higher number of casualties - after the first day, 2700 New Zealanders were injured; 845 of those men died.

Overall, 4600 New Zealanders died in the battle. Their bodies are buried in Belgium cemeteries.

``With a population of about one million people in the country at the time, every family was affected in some way,'' Mr Froggatt said.

As a 17-year-old in the workforce, Mr Froggatt met many Passchendaele soldiers and witnessed the impact on returning soldiers - physically and mentally.

``As a youngster I heard so much about Passchendaele from the men, my workmates, so many of them had been there.

``It was one of the major battles New Zealanders featured in.''

He described how the Allied soldiers charged forward through thickly muddy fields, some drowning in the mud, as they sought out enemies sheltered in bunkers.

``I have an empathy with the wounded because I myself lay wounded on the field for some time, but not in those conditions.''

The week-long trip, organised through Veterans' Affairs New Zealand, was considered by Mr Froggatt as the ``ultimate pilgrimage''.

``I personally feel this sort of thing is a part of New Zealand history, it's a debt to those men that were mutilated like that.''

He is one of two World War 2 veterans, with the other eight men from subsequent battles - all chosen through ballot for their family's service on the western front.

As well as an Anzac ceremony and the laying of the wreath by Prime Minister Helen Clark, the group would visit the cemeteries of fallen soldiers and attend a commemorative performance by Kiwi singer Hayley Westenra

[/color]. [/size][/quote]
Stephany

[Caitlin]

I don't know why I didn't say this before, but I am planning to go to this concert.

<3 Caitlin

[Stephany]

Hi Caite,

Glad to hear you can go to Belgium!!
Hope you enjoy the concert and have some spare time to eat mussels and French fries

Take care,
Stephany

[thomas]

Hi Caitlin, Joyce and Chris!

I wish you all a nice trip to Belgium and a magnificent concert evening. We have a public holiday on 3rd October but I have to work for the rest of the week so I can't come.

Thomas

[dutchjoyce]

Thank you Thomas!!
And wow, Caitlin you are going???
Maybe we can meet eachother at the concert.
We are leaving the Netherlands at 9.00 am, and we have a 350 km drive to Beselare, a little village near Zonnebeke Chateau.
We can check in, in our Holidayhome at 16.30, so drop of our stuff, and go back (6 km) to the Chateau Zonnebeke.I think we will have enough time to be there earlier. Don't know what to expect, lots of people, because its a free concert??, but we will see. Hopefully there will be a meeting after the concert !!!.
Hope to see you,and others .GREETZ JOYCE.

[chrisw]

caite said:

I don't know why I didn't say this before, but I am planning to go to this concert.

<3 Caitlin

'cause you were being sneaky? i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif