1990 celebrations planned for Britain

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 22

1990 celebrations planned for Britain

By

TONY VERDON,

in London

New Zealand artists will feature in a music gala at London’s prestigious Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as part of the 1990 commemoration in Britain next year. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will star during the gala evening, which is being billed as one of the highlights of a full programme of events planned during the next 18 months. Dame Kiri is president of the United Kingdom/ New Zealand 1990 organising . committee, which aims to involve as many British people as

possible in the commemoration. Covent Garden is where many New Zealand opera singers, including Dame Kiri, have made their name internationally. The New Zealand gala evening will be held on July 8 next year. The year marks the 1000th anniversary of known habitation of New Zealand, 200 years of European settlement, and the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. A small team of fulltime organisers, based in New Zealand House in London, has been co-ordi-nating the programme for several months.

The Princess Royal is patron, of the organisation, while many prominent figures in British life are vice-presidents, including two former Prime Ministers, Lord Home and Lord Callaghan. The chairman is a former Lord Mayor of London and prominent figure in the insurance world, Sir Alan Trail. The most visible sign of the commemoration effort in Britain will take to the air later this month — a 26m high hot-air balloon, in the shape of a kiwi. * It is expected to make its first appearance at the beginning of New Zealand’s defence of the Admiral’s Cup, at Cowes, on

the Isle of Wight, on July 24. The balloon will make appearances at sporting and other events involving New Zealanders through the next 18 months. Organisers are capitalising on visits by New Zealand sporting and cultural groups to Britain, to help lift New Zealand’s profile. They are following the successful example set by Australia, which gained immense publicity in Britain during its bicentennial celebrations last year. While the New Zealand organisers say the 1990 effort will not be on anything like the scale of the Australian operation, they

aim to promote a better understanding in Britain of New Zealand is it is today. Among the first events to be featured in Britain will be the City of Wellington Pipe Band’s participation in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow next month. The band’s tour of Scotland will culminate in a performance at the Princes Gardens in Edinburgh on August 27, followed by a 1990 reception to be hosted by the Bank of Scotland. Waitangi Day next year will be marked in Britain by the usual New Zealand Society commemorative dinner and a special

church service at Westminster Abbey. There will also be the usual evening reception, hosted by the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, Mr Bryce Harland. In March, there will be a Chamber of Commerce trade seminar, which will concentrate on the development of trade and investment between the two countries. An exhibition of Maori artefacts will be on display at the Museum of Mankind in London during April. It will coincide with other Maori artefact displays to be held at various museums throughout Britain.