BOLTON STREET CHAPEL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 141, 18 June 1927, Page 17

BOLTON STREET CHAPEL

had a moment;; ; of';rest afterwards -he stood. a limp,- despondent'figure, against the goalpost. His'only consolation,was. that lie captured' the Cup Final ball after . the : match—and he probably hated it like anything. THE GREAT CHOIR. The first thing that caught the eye was the brilliant red; of the uniforms of the massed; bands of the Irish and Grenadier Guards standing out against a magnificent green stage, but assuredly the next thing was the strange spectacle of-a white figure, plump but athletic, vigorously,'waving his arms about, on a movable, black-painted platform. The whiteness of the figure and the blackness of the platform somehow suggested a.scaffold and:an execution, but that morbid-thought was soon dissipated when the strains of the "Froth Blowers' Anthem "'began to rend the air; and it was realised that this platform was the perch' of a super-conductor, gymuastically as well as musically trained. Ono or other of the two by itself nvould have been useless, but in combination they proved irresistible. Mr. T. P. Ratcliff, iv fact, was a former physical .training, instructor, and it was his, knowledge of tho well-swung arm, not too easily tired, quite as much as his sense of beat and time, that lured on tho crowd ■ to unheard-of vocal triumphs. Tho: ccjio of the Stadium, porhaps, helped the singers and their conductor to extract a "yah" out of the word Hallelujah, that would have been terrifying,4n an enclosed space. The King;-standing in tho Royal Box, joined in the singing. Mr. and Mvs.'ChurehilVa few seats behind, lifted up their voices and added to tho great volume of /majestic sound. Mr. Lloyd George,. with whom hymn singing is a passion, revelled in the music. Mr. J. H. Thomas* sang, and Lord Dorby. So'did "all >the chiefs of the Football'- Association. So did every person gathered; in, the vast Empire stadium. ■ ' i " "■