The Kennedy Park WWII Military installations preservation trust is a Registered Charity formed to preserve the World War II defensive installation built at Castor Bay in what is now known as the JF Kennedy Memorial Park.
Our aim is to not only restore and preserve the gun emplacements, tunnel complex and other structures in the park but also to honour the men and women who served in the defence of New Zealand. It is our intention to mount a plaque honouring the members of the 63rd battery, 9th Heavy (Coast) Regiment who were based at Castor Bay.
Among the artefacts collected on site is a large steel door that was rescued from the sea, adjacent to one of the searchlight emplacements built into the cliff. Rusted, scarred and interesting, this object lends itself to being suitably mounted near the gun emplacements and becoming part of the plaque, or be the actual plaque.
Size: 1.34m high by 1.52m wide. The protrusion is 53cm, but I guess this should be cut off.
We are open to suggestions as to how to use this beastie (It takes four me to lift it) but have considered three options:
1 Engrave directly on to the steel plate. Cutting it to plaque shape may involve heavy engineering!
2. Make a sculpture out of the steel door, and incorporate a stainless steel plaque (manufactured by a trophy maker) into the design
3. Something else that my non-artistic mind is as yet unable to determine.
I believe the second option will be the simpler to achieve.
Our request
We would like to talk to an artist who would enjoy looking at the site, designing suitable placing and mounting and incorporating the plaque utilising the Artillery logo. We will organise the labour, attend to resource consent etc. and will carry our rust-inhibiting procedure as soon as the final design is known.
Please note that we are not flush with money and may need to pursue sponsorship for this exercise although we have had a $500.00 grant from Veterans Affairs towards the plaque.
For more information please visit http://www.kennedypark.org.nz/ or contact:
John Pringle john@pringle.co.nz 09 410 5700 or 021 047 0557
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