Centenary memorial for New Zealand soldiers
On 24th September 1917 soldiers from the 28th Reinforcements for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force were travelling by train from Plymouth to Sling Camp on Salisbury Plain to complete their training, having just arrived in Britain on the troopships Ulimaroa and Norman. The troops had been informed that rations would be served at the train’s first stop in Exeter and some of the soldiers had been allocated to collect the food. When the train made an unscheduled stop at Bere Ferrers in response to a signal, the soldiers in the rear carriages assumed they had reached Exeter since the end of the train had stopped outside the station and they couldn’t see the nameplate. The soldiers started jumping out eager to find food and some of them landed on the opposite track. Moments later the London to Plymouth express came round the final bend into Bere Ferrers station and had no time to stop. Nine New Zealanders were killed instantly and another died later in hospital. The anniversary of their death has been marked in Bere Ferrers ever since.
A special centenary commemorative event was recently held in Bere Ferrers, attended by New Zealand High Commissioner His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae, Brigadier Evan Williams, Head of New Zealand Defence Force and Brigadier Simon Young, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon, as well as members of the Royal British Legion and descendants of the soldiers killed. There were ceremonies at the war memorial and the station, as well as a packed service in St Andrew’s Church; a new memorial garden at Bere Ferrers station was provided by the local and Devon branches of the Royal British Legion and Tamar Belle Heritage, with plaques designed by the children of Bere Alston Primary School.