TOC H ANNIVERSARY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1931, Page 9

TOC H ANNIVERSARY

MESSAGE FROM PRINCE

"A 3VOKLD SYMBOL

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 9th December.

The girdlo of lamps -which was begun at Talbot House at Poperinghe on Friday, and which travelled round the woYld during the twenty-four hours, was completed at the Albert Hall on Saturday night, when the London members celebrated the anniversary of the founding. The light travelled westward, was taken up in the British Isles, crossed the Atlantic to Canada and the United States, and passed on to the Argentine and Brazil. Then it completed the circuitry way of New Zealand and Australia, the Far and Middle East, India, Africa, Berlin, and Brussels, and so back to the Albert Hall. Here about 8000 people were present to join in the celebrations. Community singing is always a feature of these gatherings, and the great crowd thoroughly enjoyed the well-known songs for over half an hour, with the Band of the Welsh Guards accompanying, . and Mr. Clivo Carey conducting with the aid of an amplifier. Before the main part of the programme began, the men who had been at Poperinghe on the Triday came in procession through the arena. The Guest-Night Leader read messages from branches in all parts of the world. From AVellington came the message: "Greeting. New Zealand stands by with lights clear and hearts / afire." The Christchurch branch telegraphed: "Christchurch joins'the chain to-night." While all joined in the hymn, "The Inheritance," the procession of bannerbearers heading the London branches of the brotherhood filed in. The leader bore the silver Lamp of Maintenance presented by the Prince of Wales. The electric lights of the hall were put out, and presently the Bushlights ranged be-, fore the -dais were flickering in the surrdunding darkness like biyouac fires seen from a distance. Then the Pounder Padre spoke the well-known*words: — With proud thanksgiving let us remember our Elder Brethren, They shall grow not 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. There followed one minute of impressive silence, and then the Battle Hymn to the tune of "John Brown's Body." THE PRINCE'S MESSAGE. A message from the Prince of Wales was read by the Key. P. B. Clayton,' and this and Mr. Clayton's own remarks were relayed and broadcast from the London station. "Although I cannot be present at the Albert Hall to-night, when Toe H celebrates its fifteenth anniversary," . the Prince wrote, "I send my birthday greetings to every member of the family. "The light which shone so steadily in the great darkness of the war means too much to be lost; and it is wonder- ■ ful to think that last night in the old Tipper Boom at' Poperinghe it should have been relit, and since then travelled right round the world, forming a Chain of Lamps, and Bushlights steadily maintained by our fellow-members. "When at the Albert Hall to-night this Chain of Light is completed, I >roi]M have every member realise that 1:0 be worthy of it he must, put duty first. There is^much the younger men can do to help the world if only they will do it, and do it now. "Many years after a great war, one shortage at least still continues, that is the loss of leadership. It is to help in' finding and inspiring leadership that Toe H seems tb tme so significant; and those who would be leaders must learn to lead through fellowship and service. "I welcome the solid growth accomplished—new areas of influence; new districts opened up, new ■ work in town and country, ,new marks,- new branches, new groups. I welcome all the deepening- sense of purpose pervading Toe 11, and every hard-won struggle to improve the structure and the spirit of the movement. "Toe H is now so widely known that we must be determined that wherever ' it is known it shall be regarded as sound, true, and serviceable. If Toe H remains, as I believe it will, true to its fundamental principles, no one can doubt its value for the future. Let every member ask himself to-night whether there is a way in which he can even more loyally fulfil his personal commitment to Toe H, and to the ideals for which it stands. "I shall look forward to' the Festival, fen ray return from abroad, in the early summer of next year." WHAT TOO H STANDS TOR. Mr. Clayton then told how the light had travelled. "It sprang to Ireland, North and South," he said. "It boarded ships At sea, outward-bound and homecoming. It crept into the cabin and forecastle. Then, it touched the West Indies, passed to New York, and Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore. It went to Newfoundland and far south to Brazil and Argentina." Then to New Zealand, Australia, China, Singapore, Rangoon, India, South Africa, Kenya, and so to Cairo, Malta, Charleroi, Brussels, Berlin, and Hamburg. The speaker summed up all these things for which Toe H stood. Only the.younger men could build the new age better, he said, and from those young men Toe H demanded four qualities. "We pledge ourselves to build like pioneers, to helpjin work to which we are assigned, to think with fairness, not with prejudice; thus to'protnote the Gospel without pulpits, by daily demonstrations of its power to render lives unselfish and unflinching," was his interpretation of the movement's spiritual charter. "Where there is darkness/ light must go to it, and cleave it with its flame. Where there is hatred, love must find it out and heal and make it whole. Evils are never cured by cowardice. Evils are cured hfr courage. Listen! Listen! Look for God's light. Receive it. Pass it on." During the evening Lord Wakefield, as n tribute of gratitude to him for his purchase, restoration, and endowment of Talbot House, was presented with a gold, ring recently found in the offertory box at the House. A service of thanksgiving and rededication was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on Friday night,, when nearly 4000 members of the London branches of Toe H and the League of Women Helpers attended. A procession of banners of the 120 branches was formed. It paused at the same moment as the Lamp was lit in the Tipper Room at Talhjg, House, Poperinghe. Bishop E. S. Talbot, the late Bishop of, Winchester, father of the T* Gilbert Talbot after whom the movement was named, was present, and the blessing was given by the Bishop Suffragan of Willesden.