“THIS GREAT FAMILY”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 December 1935, Page 3

“THIS GREAT FAMILY”

EMPIRE CHRISTMAS BROADCASTS

EMPIRE PROGRAMME

TYPICAL HOMES TO EXCHANGE GREETINGS “This Great Family’* -will he the theme taken by the British Broadcasting Corporation for the Empire programme, which the corporation hopes to broadcast on Christinas Day. Ihe title is taken from the message broadcast by Iris Majesty the King last Christmas Day. It is hoped that typical homos scattered throughout the Empire will be linked together for an cxcluyige of speaks in the broadcast, he will he introduced by a New Zealand child. All the Dominions and India have now accepted the invitation to co-ope-rate in this programme. Contributions will he heard from Canada, South Africa, India Australia, and New Zealand. Each home or family taking part in the broadcast will act as a direct representative of its respective country. Colonial representation in the programme will also he effected by reference to family ties with some of the homes actually participating in the programme! Contributions to the programme from tlie Home country will he drawn from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

KING’S MESSAGE

It is hoped that his Majesty will again broadcast a message to the Empire, at the conclusion of this programme at approximately 3 p.m. Greenwich mean time. Should lie do so, lie will be introduced by a child in New Zealand, who has stayed up late especially to hear his Majesty. It is felt that this introduction would be particularly appropriate in view of the special message directed byjiis Majesty to the children of the Empire which was broadcast on Jubilee Day. BEOADCAST TIMES “This Great Family” will he broadcast at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich mean time from all stations in Great Britain, and from the' Empire Broadcasting Station, as follows: —Transmission 3, 25th December: GSD 25.53 metres; GSF, 19. 82 metres; GSG, Hi. 80 metres. A recording of this programme will also he broadcast on normal frequencies on tranmission 1, on Thursday 26th December at 9.55 a.m. Greenwich mean time.

SERVICE FROM HISTORIC 'CHAPEL

At 8.30 a.m. (Greenwich mean time) on Christmas morning, listeners overseas will he able to hear carols from King’s College Chapel. Cambridge, followed by a reading from Dickens. And then will he heard another radio Christmas party, “The More We Are Together.” The traditional; Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Chapel is one of the finest services to be heard anywhere, for the King’s College dlioir is celebrated, recruiting its jnembefs from the College itself and the College Choir School, ’-file first carol is sung by the choir as it enters the chapel; of the rest, some are sung by the choir alone; in others the congregation joins. The carols are separated by lessons, read by the provost and other members of the college and by the representatives of the town. ,' ■

King’s College Chapel is the chief glory of Cambridge University, and is among the finest ecclesiastical buildings in England. In 1440, when he was 18, King Henry VI. decided to create a small college at Cambridge. But scarcely had the work of building a habitation for the little community (a rector and ’l2 scholars) started when ambition soared. The King determined to found a great college which should outstrip all others in splendour and be linked with the school which he had made at Eton. His plans were never completed. The mighty qtiadrangle with library and hall and buttery and lodgings for the scholars \vas never built, out one part of his dream—tlie great chapel for his college monastery—was, in the course of time,“tarried ’into’ tjie reality of timber and stone. It stands to-day as one of Cambridge’s proudest possessions, and as an enduring memorial to the hoy king. ■ The most striking feature of the chapel is the fan tracery vaulting, which has been described as the most beautiful form of roof ever devised. The great windows are equally notable and form, a series of pictures in glass probably unequalled in any part of the world. This chapel, in which, the -poets Fletcher and Waller, tlie historian Coxe, and the Walpoles worshipped, and in which Orlando Gibbons sang, has always been famous for its music. Listeners will hear the organ, little changed .through more than two centurcs,’ and a choir that in the singing of Christmas carols is not to be surpassed.