Greyfriars Church Memorial Hall

Mt Eden Presbyterian Church was opened in 1917. It was renamed Greyfriars, Mt Eden in 1950. Greyfriars Memorial Hall is located at the rear of the church. The hall was opened on 21 May 1952 as a memorial to those members of the congregation who died on active service during the two World Wars and to acknowledge the many young men who also served. This hall was one of only a few church halls in New Zealand built and dedicated as a war memorial after the Second World War.

 

The dedicatory plaque reads:-

 

THIS MEMORIAL HALL WAS ERECTED / TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY OF / THOSE WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE / WORLD WAR I 1914-1918 /

WORLD WAR II 1939-1945.

 

The roll of honour in the church (here seen in a photograph of a photograph) lists the name of the one man from the young church's congregation who gave his life during the First World War and the seven men who gave their lives during the Second World War:-

 

ROLL OF HONOUR / TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY OF / THOSE WHO MADE / THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN THE / WORLD WARS / 1914-18 / A. A. RAMSAY / 1939-45 / R, M. GOODFELLOW / O. G. MCGREGOR / D. MCKENZIE / I. MOIR / A. SHERRIFF / D.M. ROLPH-SMITH / N. T. SUTHERLAND / 'GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS'.

 

See: Lawrie Moir, Marching on: Greyfriars Presbyterian Church, Auckland, 1965, pp. 6-7; Ivan M. Moses, The Tower by the Hill: Greyfriars Presbyterian Church, Mt Eden, 1915-1990, Auckland, 1990, pp. 9, 22, 25-6.