Archdeacon Tim Mora says that Saturday afternoon’s Pike River first anniversary service in Greymouth will be a culmination of sad firsts.

He points out that in the past 12 months the families of the 29 lost miners will each have had to endure birthdays without their birthday boys.

They’ll have had more low days as wedding anniversaries came and went, and other special family occasions passed.

“Each one of those days,” says Tim, who will MC the service, “is a particular underlining that their family member is not there, and never again will be.”

So Tim says it’s particularly important to acknowledge the first anniversary of the first Pike explosion - because the grieving families will need all the support and solace going to get through the day.

The anniversary, of course, coincides with a looming election.

There are real misgiving about that on the Coast.

Plenty of talk of how unbearable it would be if the service was tainted by any politicking.

But Tim believes it’s quite appropriate for the Prime Minister and the Governor General to be there, to pay their tributes in person.

You could no more leave the nation out of this service, he says, than you could have left it out when Sir Ed Hillary died.

And with the latest opinion polls showing that 39% of voters support Labour and the Greens, he thinks it’s a fair call that the leaders of the Labour and Green Party will be on that Saturday stage.

Not to speak, but to be there, and show their support.

Tim says first anniversaries of the loss of a loved one are often a landmark on the road to healing.

Sadly, he says, that won’t be the case on the Coast.

There’s too much left unresolved.

The bodies are still in the mine, the Royal Commission has reached a crucial stage, and the police have just laid charges against some of the key players at Pike.

So for of the families of the 29, Saturday looms as a day to endure.