Residents at a Rotorua rest home have been treated to a staffer's war memorabilia collection. It's a yearly reminder of the sacrifice their relatives made for the country.
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Eveard Smith is a maintenance worker at the Redwood Care Home. Each year before Anzac Day he brings the treasures he's collected over 35 years in to share.
"I've sourced it from military shows and old antique stores," he says.
He was just seven when he got into it after listening to his grandfather's war stories.
"And all the stuff that he had in his house because he used to have a massive library and old gun shells beside the fireplace," he says.
His most treasured piece is his grandfather's money box he had in Egypt, which was repurposed from a grenade.
His collection certainly drew a reaction from viewers.
"Wonderful, wonderful, just like my Dad would've had," one person told Newshub.
"It's a sign of being proud, thinking of New Zealand and everything he has collected for our history," another said.
And while it might have sparked interest from the residents, what Smith was after was simple.
"If I get a smile or a memory out of them it would be a beautiful thing," he says.
Newshub.
