BIRTH OF NEW YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 11

BIRTH OF NEW YEAR

LONDON CELEBRATIONS

IMMENSE THRONG IN PICCADILLY CIRCUS

LAVISH GREETINGS

LONDON, January 1. For the New Year celebrations St.. Paul's was floodlit, and illuminated Christmas trees stood in the porch. The assembly in the neighbourhood, which was smaller than usual, dispersed within half an hour. Merry makers wearing paper hats and carrying balloons in throngs of unprecedented size linked hands and danced round the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus singing "Auld Lang Syne." New Year's Day is not observed as a holiday in the south of England as it is in Scotland, but London's arrangements for the greeting of 1937 at midnight were on a more extensive and lavish scale than for many years. Watch-night services were held in St. Paul's Cathedral and many other churches.

Hotels and restaurants catered for thousands at gala suppers and dances at which special attractions included elaborate tableaux and parades, ingenious decorations, and musical and dancing novelties.

This year's theme at the Chelsea Arts Ball, "The Naked Truth," was illustrated by a huge statue of a nude woman by William McMillan, R.A. This stood in the centre of the hall. The Chelsea Arts Club, illustrated "What is Truth?" and the Royal Acaderriy the "Source of Truth." Seven thousand persons paid from one to five guineas and 3000 paid 5s for a view from the gallery.