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Press, 11 April 1978, Page 6

The Bridge of Remembrance will have another official opening 55 years after its original foundation stone was laid. On Anzac Day, the bridge’s “new look” of red tiles and modem lamps will be shown off at the mid-morning citizens’ service. Mr J. Tyson, a plasterer, is shown finishing the stonework approaches to the bridge. At 10.30 a.m. on April 25. Mr C. H. Upham, V.C., and bar, will open the bridge project. A traffic bridge for most of its life, the Bridge of Remembrance is now limited to pedestrians. A co-operative project between Christchurch City Council architects and the Returned Services’ Association has resulted in the renovated memorial. In 1923, the then Gover-nor-General (Admiral of

the Fleet Viscount Jellicoe) laid the bridge’s foundation stone. He came back to open the bridge on Armistice Day, November 11, 1924. The bridge and its memorial arch replaced an earlier bridge over which soldiers marched from the King Edward Barracks to the Christchurch railway station at the start of their Journey overseas.

The tiled bridge will now form the western end of the future Cashel Street-High Street pedestrian mall, which will extend all the way to Cathedral Square. The Anzac Day opening ceremony will replace the one normally held at either Christchurch Cathedral or the Town Hall. Members of the Australian Returned Services’ League will also attend the opening.