YOUTH AND MUSIC

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 167, 11 April 1932, Page 10

YOUTH AND MUSIC

Big Salvationist Rally MEMORABLE NIGHT Needless to say, the Town Hall was packed from the organ loft to the back wall on Saturday evening on the occasion of the Salvation Army's young people's congress and musical festival, over which General E. J. Higgins presided. The younger members of the Salvation Army were in great force and gave the General and Mrs. Higgins a tremendous welcome on taking their seats on the platform. With an orchestra and a full bra&s band, the accompaniments to the hymns w’ere very stirring, and as each of those present sang “with heart and soul and voice” the effect was quite thrilling. During the evening the genera! presented to those members of the LifeSaving Guards who had qualified to receive them, the “General’s tassels” and bronze medals.

' The winners of the “General’s tassels” were Corporal Laura Dutton (Island Bay)/ Patrol-leaders Dorothy Ericson (Brooklyn), Edna Gray (Palmerston North), Amy Gunn (Island Bay), Eunice Moore (Petone), Gwen Norman (Island Bay), Corporal Margaret Roberts (Kelburn), and Guard Ruby Stephen (Palmerston North).

Winners of the bronze medallion were Patrol-leaders Ursula Chamberlain, Dorothy Ericson, Amy Gunn, Gwen Norman, Thelma Smith, and Corporal Laura Dutton.

In presenting the tassels, General Higgins congratulated the girls who had gained the reward for the highest ideal of achievement, anc] he hoped that having succeeded they would go on to further achievement in the great cause. “I have not yet publicly announced, and I do so for the first time to-night,” said General Higgins, “my intention to establish a still higher grade for efficiency, to be called the ‘Founder’s Tassel.’ There could be no more suitable occasion to make this announcement than this, the one hundred and third anniversary of the Founder’s birth. I trust that those who have received distinctions to-night will strain with all their ability to reach the new height, of efficiency, so as to be prepared to receive the Founder’s tassel when it is ready.” The 'entertainment side of the programme comprised songs, choruses, gymnastics and instrumental items, all reflecting the greatest credit on the instructors of the young people.