A hunt is underway to find guests of honour for an upcoming centennial.
The Geraldine Memorial Pavilion —which opened on Labour Day in 1923 — was erected by the Geraldine Hockey Club members in memory of their team mates who died during World War 1.
Geraldine Croquet Club secretary Shirley Lindroos said the club was searching for descendants of the eight soldiers named on the memorial plaque on the building.
Mrs Lindroos said — since the croquet club had recently purchased the premises — they wanted to incorporate the hockey players the building was built to honour in their anniversary celebrations.
Co-organiser Karyn Close had undertaken the job of finding living relatives of the named men.
Ms Close said while geneaology had made the task less daunting it was not a simple search.
She said, because of the Privacy Act, the website could not display any information on living descendants.
She had found creative ways to find the answers she was seeking, like checking historical death notices for the names of the bereaved, which included the childrens’ names.
She had also checked headstones to see the names of children. ‘‘I’d find a clue and would end up going down a path.’’ Ms Close said in some cases honorifics had made the task much harder than it would have been, with women going by their husband’s initials and surname.
While they had managed to trace a number of the descendants of the eight men, they were still to find the descendants of Leonard Thomas Carver, Charles Knox Kirkwood Tincler , John William Herbert Bryant.
They were also hoping to find the family of Herbert Robert Burborough.
However, Ms Close had a bad feeling the Burborough line had ‘‘died out’’.
Ms Close said the club planned to make a fuss of descendants at the centennial, which Alpine Energy had sponsored.
‘‘Some of the family members we contacted didn’t even know the building existed.’’
They had a family who were hoping to travel from Dunedin for the event, and others from Christchurch.
Mrs Lindroos was hopeful if anyone had one of the club’s historical trophies they would bring it in to display it at the centennial.
‘‘Like the Ellis Cup and the Mary Rule Memorial Rose Bowl.’’
She said the trophies were last presented in 1956.
