Remembering in silence

Queenstown firefighters, ambulance officers and police officers gathered with residents and visitors on the village green on Tuesday for a silent reflection on the first anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake.

St John Queenstown intensive care paramedic Dianne Payne was one of the first in the Wakatipu to respond to the disaster, and she was one of the dozen personnel who stood beside their vehicles on the village green.

The gathering became a focal point for about 40 people of all ages, who stopped in their tracks when the ambulance air horn sounded at 12.51pm. They observed the two-minute silence and remembered the 185 people who lost their lives. A second blast of the air horn signalled the end of the reflection.