THE BARNARDO HOMES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14979, 27 April 1909, Page 5

THE BARNARDO HOMES.

AN ENTHUSIASTIC GATHERING. The entertainment given by the Baruardo Homes boys in His Majesty s Theatre last night was eminently successful. The theatre was full, all the seating accommodation being occupied, any many of the patrons who desired seats in the dress circle had t.o seek quarters in other parts of the building. Doan Harper opened the proceedings with prayer, and after too hymn '■ Rescue the Perishing ” had been 6ung, the Dean delivered a graceful speech, introducing the Rev Walter, JMavens and Iris little men and paying a high tribute to the work of the late Dr Barnardo. . Mr Mayers, who is the senior deputation secretary of the Barnardo organisation, then took charge of the meeting, and the boys’ programme was gone through. Seldom, indeed, has- a more enjoyable entertainment been given in Christchurch. The well-known anthem of Spobr, “As Pants the Hart,” played on the hand-hells by five of . the lade, with pianoforte accompaniment by Mr H. Aaron, the boys’ musical instructor, was a revelation to the audience, showing the marvellous possibilities of hand-bell ringing, when natural musical aptitude combines with close practice and skilful training to give those possibilities proper display. The anthem is familiar to all choristers, but. seldom does any ordinary choir give it the devotional interpretation it received at the hands of the juvenile bell-ringers last night. "The Bells of St.Malo” was another item, with a. telling chime added by an extra player, and the applause was vociferous. Then came an item on cleverly manipulated mandolins, and this was followed by a selection of old slave melodies on the sleigh belle, which the player flung o2 in perfect time and most tunefully, having to answer to a pronounced recall. More handbell selections were followed by an ad-mirably-played cornet solo, in which an excerpt frara “ The Gondoliers ” was the subject. Mr Mayers then introduced his four Highland pipers, clad in Royal Stuart tartan kilts, who played several well-known Highland tunes in a manner pleasing to the most fastidious Celt. The pipers followed the custom of their kind, marching as they played, introducing quite a new, but withal phasing variation on the custom, by going through the figure 8 of the Highland reel as they marched. The strong leaven of the Scot in the audience took care that this item should bo encored, and another “ skirl ” was the result. other band of a quite different kind followed, made up of two xylophones, a dulcimer, a glockenspiel and a tubephone. The glockenspiel, Mr Mayers explained, was made of carpenters chisels, filed to tuning point, set m position, and struck with a suitable beater. The instrument was made by a gentleman who had a hobby of that kind, and was presented to the Homes by the artist. The chisels had all been in use ag real tools, and had done their legitimate work before they came into the hands of the hobbyist, but the music produced from them was marvellous. The tubepbone, another hobbyist’s work, is made from common brass piping, and its music is not by any means to be sneered at. The piece played was entitled “The Charge,” and was punctuated by ex-cellently-rendered cavalry bugle calls. At this point the Rev W. J. Mayers gave a most interesting lecture on the life work of the late Di Barnardo, describing the rescue work that the late philanthropist entered upon in the slums of London, and tracing the growth of his mission from its humble beginning to the present day. He appealed to Australasia for aid in adding a hospital to the girls village, with its sixty-eight cottage homes. The hospital was to cost £23,000. and he hoped that Christchurch would be able to provide one at least of the one hundred beds it would contain, and £230 would enable the Christchurch people to establish that bed. My Mayers showed several pictures of the homes, and enlarged photographs of the children whose life history he gave, in illustration of the rescue work done. Mr Mayers is a fluent and graceful speaker, and has the happy knaok of being able to amuse while he instructs, and of getting at the human heart when he makes an appeal. A collection was taken, and after the hoys had given a display of musical > drxlj in sailor costume, a selection on the occarinas, and another on the fairy bells and autoharps, Mr Mayers stated the itinerary of bis sojourn in Cauteri bury, and the programme closed with the National Anthem,