SONG AND POEM

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 178, 26 April 1938, Page 15

SONG AND POEM

“Cavalcade Of Memories” ANZAC DAY CONCERT Giving this year’s Anzac Day concert the title “Cavalcade of Memories,” the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association last night reverently revived thoughts of 20 years ago among an audience which filled the St. James Theatre. The programme consisted of tableaux, supported by songs, choruses, music arnd recitations,, with a one-act play by members of ( the Wellington Repertory Theatre. Presented without undue delay, the items were varied but related in sentiment and were well received by the large audience. There were nine “memories” in the cavalcade —“Gallipoli,” “Flanders,” “The Kilties,’’ “The Poilus,” “Blighty,” “Ynres,” “The Maoris,” “The Nures” anti “The Navy.” They varied from a song or recitation before a suitable tableau, to the one-act play, and many famous poems and ballads were introduced by the performers. The vocal soloists were Messrs. R. Blow, Harison Cook, D. Evans and Henry Tahiwi, and the reciters Mr. J. Morgan Davies, who, as eidtoc and chronicler, carried the heaviest burden in this department, and Mr. L. K. Morris, the producer of the entertainment. others who took part were Messrs. R. Walpole, L. A. Hill, P. Lowndes, Miss Norma Woodcock, and trumpeters J. J. Drew and T, Goodall. The R.S.A. Choir and the Tin Hat Club Orchestra had important parts, the former by enhancing the effect of many of the solos and the latter by accompanying and playing incidental music. Use w£s made of a gauze drop before which the performers appeared, but at appropriate 1 times the lighting was altered to make the drop disappear and reveal most effectively a new tableau. \ The “memory” to yvin loudest and longest applause was “The Kilties,” the playing of a selection of Scottish airs by the Police Pipe Band, 13 pipes and drummers, magnificently costumed. The one-act play was “The Road of Poplars,” by Vernon Sylvane, an insight into the tortured imaginations of two English ex-soldiers who have gone back to the battlefield of Ypres four years after the war. It was a painfully effective sketch, excellently produced by Mr. G. H. A. Swan, who was himself appropriately cast in the principal role. Other parts were capably handled by Messrs. G. Stock, H. N. Hannah and N. V. Wotton, Dr. Keys and Madame Renee Finlayson. Addressing the audiehce on the work of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association, the president, Lieut.-Coionel Cowles, explained that the proceeds from the entertainment would be devoted to providing headstones in the war cemetery at Karori.

MAYOR LAYS WREATH ON CENOTAPH

English County Societies’ Ceremony

A splendid gesture of loyalty to the Motherlaud and remembrance of those who fell in the Great War was made on Saturday morning when members of the Royal Society of Saint George and members of the Combined English County Societies met to witness the placing of a wreath in the shrine of the Cenotaph by the mayor of Wellington, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop.

Although rain fell steadily and the air was cold and damp, members of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George and many old soldiers gathered under the shelter of nearby shops to watch the proceedings. No speeches were given but there was just the simple ceremony of sorrow and thanksgiving, and remembrance of the great, sacrifice made by so many Englishmen and New Zealanders side by side in the war of 1914-18. The wreath laid by the mayor was of laurel leaves and flowers and bore the inscription:— “In fond and loving remembrance of all Englishmen, Englishwomen and New Zealanders who paid the supreme sacrifice through the Great. War, 1914-18. From the members of the Combined English County Societies of Wellington and the Royal Society of Saint George (Wellington branch).” The various counties were officially represented by one of their members, in most cases by the chairman. Yorkshire was represented by Mr. Karl Atkinson, and also by Mr. Will Appleton, as president of the Yorkshire Society of New Zealand; Northumberland and Durham, Mr. J. Meltzer; Birmingham and Midland Counties and Cheshire, Messrs. Whittaker and Conroy; Kentish Society, D r . Reakes; Dorset, Rev. Usher. Colonel A. Cowles of the Returned Soldiers’ Association was also present.

ANZAC MEMORIAL

Toe H Ceremony Held In ■■■ St. Paul’s Cathedral

An impressive Anzac Day memorial service, held by Toe H, Wellington Region, iu St. Paul’s Pro-Uathedral last night, was well attended.

The service was conducted by Canon D. J. Davies, Vicar o£ St. Paul's, the Rev. G. M. McKenzie, Vicar of St. Michael’s, the Rev, A. Muriel, Cambridge Terrace Congregational Church, and the Rev. J. Gilkison, Hutt Valley Congregational Church, all of whom are Toe H padres. The Rongotai Boys’ College choir led the singing.

After the opening hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” the congregation remaind’ standing while Padre Gilkison read the call to worship from Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 28 to 31. Kneeling, they joined with Padre Muriel in an act of praise to God, followed by another hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Padre Gilkison read the lesson from Ecclesiasticus, chapter 38, verses 24 to, 34. The congregation, standing, then joined with Padre McKenzie in an act of thanksgiving for famour men, the elder brethren of the world family. There followed the ceremony of light, conducted by Mr. J. Kellow, regional secretary of Toe H. The lamp used was that of the Wellington branch, dedicated to William Henry Dillon Bell, who was killed in action in 1917. With the church in darkness except, for the light of the lamp, Mr. Kellow said the famous lines: They shall not grow old, as we that are

left grow old : Age shall not weary them, nor the years

condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the

morning We will remember them. After the reiteration of the last line by the congregation, there was one minute’s silence, an act of self-dedication, before the lamp was extinguished and the church again illuminated. The hymn “For the Brave of Every Race” was sung. Padre Davies also led the kneeling congregation in the Prayer of Toe II and the Lord’s Braver The hymn “Go Forth With God'” was sung, and Padre McKenzie pronounced the blessing.