On 17 October 1953 Major General Sir Howard Kippenberger formally opened the Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground. The seven-hectare reserve incorporated a multi-purpose sports oval; bowling greens, croquet lawns, combined netball and tennis courts, and sports pavilions were later added.
The park’s memorial gates were situated at the entrance to the park on the corner of SH1 and Mossop Road. They were inset with three tablets: one with the name of the park, another dedicating it to the memory of those who served overseas in World War II, and the third recording its opening date.
Cypress trees were planted nearby to honour Tokoroa’s war dead: Pilot Officer Frank Sylvester Blackwell, Flight Sergeant L.D. Lory and Trooper Graham Turner.
In 2005 the gates were replaced by a concrete memorial plinth which incorporated the three existing tablets from the memorial gates and an additional tablet commemorating VJ Day.
Sources: ‘Tokoroa’s Memorial Gates’, Auckland Star, 13/10/1953; Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground and David Foote Park Reserve Management Plan, Tokoroa, 2010, pp. 4-6.
Images and text: Bruce Ringer, 2015 and 2016