ARMISTICE DAY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 23 December 1933, Page 11

ARMISTICE DAY

BRITISH LEGION FESTIVAL MOVING SCENE AT ALBERT HALL GRAPHIC ACCOUNT BY FORMER NELSONIAN On Armistic Day (11th November) the British Legion held a festival of Empire and Remembrance in the Albert Hall. A graphic account of the ceremony is given by Dr. Horace Sadlier in the course of a letter to the Bishop of Nelson. Dr. Sadlier writes :

“In,the evening I went to the British Legion Festival at- the Albert Hall. It was an unforgettable experience and one of the most moving gatherings I have ever attended. Part 1 with parades of banner bearers, detachments of overseas divisions, nursing services, British Army, band selections and war time choruses was mostly joyous and real good fun. We had the organ, and the massed bands of the Guards—and you should have heard the latter play ‘Colonel Bogey !’ “Part 2 was the Act of Remembrance, and was most reverently and wonderfully done. During the playing of the Lament, the lights all over the liall were slowly dimmed until only the organ, bands and the array of banners, flags and various detachments were Jit up. It was ill that dusk that wc all sang Kipling’s Recessional. Then a detachment of six men and a banner bearer came in, slowly marching the whole width of the hall to the platform—representatives of the Imperial War Graves Commission, no sound being heard except a roll of drums. As they reached the platform the remaining lights were dimmed, a huge Legion banner covering the organ slowly divided and on a screen was thrown the photo of a small group of graves near a shell hole with gaunt trees behind; imperceptibly almost this changed into a photo of a war cemetery to-day, and a reading lamp showed up the fair head of the Prince of Wales on the platform as he recited the wonderful lines.

“ ‘They shall grow not old . . . .” in a tense and absolute silence, and then came one of the most dramatic tilings .of all: tlie response of 10,000 of us —‘We will remember them’; it was not a dull roar, it was not a murmur, but a tense volume of sound utterly heart-catching. Then, followed, still in the dim darkness, the singing of '0 Valiant Hearts’ while away up in the dome four large red poppy lights glowed out and over 1,000,000 poppy petals began to fall slowly down. It was immensely moving. A roll of drums followed, and suddenly spot lights shone on a big Union Jack, billowing out with a forced draught, and on trumpeters of the Royal Horse Guards as they sounded ‘Reveille.’ I have forgotten to say that when the detachment of the War Graves Commission reached the platform, and before the Prince spoke, from out in the corridors, as from a distance, _ was sounded ‘Last Rost’; it was frightfully poignant in such a setting —no other sound and ten thousand of us standing motionless at attention, _ all with memories of it on other occasions.

“Following tlie ‘Reveille,’ the bands, organ and audience broke out into ‘Abide with Me,’ as a huge cross of scarlet poppies llamed out above tlie organ. As we reached the second last line ‘Heaven’s morning breaks,’ the lights began to go up, and the hymn finished in a blaze of light and a crash of triumphant sound. It was tremendous,'and a. most wonderful experience.”