Sean Colgan represented Leander Club at the King’s Cup medal ceremony at Government House in Wellington, New Zealand recently. The event honoured the 1919 New Zealand Defence Force crew that helped build the peace after World War I, and celebrated women in the defence force, in 2019.
Her Excellency Dame Cindy Kiro GMNZ QSO, the first Maori woman to serve as Governor-General of New Zealand, presented the medals. The ceremony involved the Ambassadors and High Commissioners of the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands.
The New Zealand Chief of Defence was presented with an engraved presentation board which included a gold nugget wrapped around the precious metals from each nation and their Heads of State.
In her role as Commander in Chief, Dame Cindy Kiro was presented with the New Zealand dagger of silver, gold and diamond with hand enamelled New Zealand colours.
An engraved board was presented to Leander containing a similar gold nugget at Henley Royal Regatta this year. This acknowledged the pivotal role Leander members played in 1919 at the Royal Henley Peace Regatta and Leander Club’s generous hospitality and welcome to the military crews of eight nations in 2019.
