FESTIVAL OF REMEMBRANCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20292, 28 December 1927, Page 12

FESTIVAL OF REMEMBRANCE.

NEW FEATURES OF ARMISTICE DAY. TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION. PRINCE OF WALES IN THE LEAD. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 16. This Armistice Day has brought a development which is likely to be a precedent. Hitherto, the Two Minutes’ Silence and church services have been the only features of the commemoration clay. This year a groat Festival of Remembrance, followed by a torchlight procession to the Cenotaph, have been inaugurated. The ceremony at the Cenotaph in the morning is naturally attended by a greater number of women than men. Tlic Festival of Remembrance in the evening provides a greater opportunity fur the men to commemorate tlio day. The Albert Hall meeting was organised by the Daily Express. The Prince of Wales took a loading part, and there were present 10,000 ex-Sorvice men and women, linked together by a common bond of having served overseas. The vast building was brought to the uppermost gallery. When the Prince of Wales appeared in the Royal box, the whole audience rose and sang the National Anthem, and then gave three cheers, which wore repeated again and again. Smiling, the Prince saluted in acknowledgment of the compliment. With him were Mr Winston Churchill, Sir L. Worthington-Evans, Field-marshal Viscount Ailenby, General tho Earl of Cavan, General Sir lan Hamilton, Major-general Lord Ruthvcn, and others. All the old wartime songs were sung. Mr.T. P. Ratcliff conducted, and very soon’ had everyone singing lustily. Still, for a little while it was not tho singing that echoed along tho roads of Flanders. Those songs, however, have a mysterious fascination, and gradually memories came back, and tho songs were suii”' with something of tho old spirit of abandon. After the songs, trumpeters of tho Life Guards, tho Royal Horse Guards, and tho 10th Royal Hussars sounded the “Last Post’’ and “Reveille.” The hymn “ O God our help in ages past followed, and then tho Prince addressed tho gathering.

i EMPIRE BASED ON COMRADESHIP. “To-day is the ninth anniversary of the Armistice,” he said. Wc celcbiatcd that first memorable-Armistice Day with rejoicjug. Wo celebrated it with relief. It was tho end of a long period of strain and struggle, a long period of sorrow and glory, tho hko of winch wo pray God wo may never endure again. Nobody who \vas present in any public place during the two minutes’ silence this morning, and nobody at this wonderful gathering to-night, can question for a minute that Armistice Day still holds for all of us as deep a meaning as over. But I think you will all agico that with tho passing of time the^ expression o( that moaning has changed. This Armistice Day was once a day of rejoicing. It is now a day of remembrance. Hie full sum of that remembrance, not I, nor anyone, can express in words. Each one of us, man or woman, cherishes dear memories which belong to him or her alone. But, beyond those precious personal recollections, there arises also the great memories which wo can share one with another, and those memories should dwell with us not only on this day, but on each and every day of tho year. —(Cheers.) “ If wo arc to save ourselves, and those that come after us, from a renewal in an even more frightful form of all that wo suffered in tho Great War, wo must by our every action, in our every-day conversation, and even in our very thoughts, seek peace and ensue it. Wo can remember, too. that if wo have a duty to our dead, wo have also to iho living. In tho actual day of battle every man who fought by our side was our comrade and our friend, tor nine difficult years wo have endured tho inevitable sombre consequences of war, and whether he who fought by our side has fared better or worse than ourselves, or whatever his luck may bo, he is no less our comrade and friend o-day.—(Cheers.) Lastly, we can remember this great Empire for whoso honour and existence wo fought, that this great Empire is alive, and that comradeship is its vital spot. Only in such remembrance can wo redeem the sacrifices of all those who served the name and cause of Britain in that great time of trial. (Cheers.) TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION.

The Prince of Wales, with Mr Winston Churchill, then hooded a mile-long torchlight procession from the Albert Hail to the Cenotaph. Tho vast audience on leaving tho hall formed up in columns flanked with torches. The route to the Cenotaph was lined with crowds three and four deep, and many of these joined in tho procession, making it still longci. Thus at least 10,000 people started on the march, but by the time the Cenotaph was reached tho torchlight procession had swollen to about 30,000. - ' When the head of tho procession arrived at tho coiner of Parliament Square it halted, and tho Prince, Mr Winston Churchill and Captain Towso, tho blinded v .C., who had walked all the way from tho Albert Hall, went on alone up Whitehall through an avenue kept with difficulty by strong cordons of police. They entered a building close to tho Centotaph. At the Cenotaph tho . bandsmen played ‘ Abide With Me,” and the vast assemblage sang tho hymn. As the first verse w r us being played the Prince of Wales stepped out with Mr Winston Churchill. A solid block of people was packed between tho pavement edge and the central space, and a number of policemen fought to clear a passage for the Prince and Mr Churchill. Tho Prince of Wales, Mr Churchill, and the remainder of tho partv then lined up in tho middle of the roadway. Surround™ by torch-bearers, they faced the Cenotaph, ..while the remainder of the hymn was sung. *“God Save the King” followed, and then a roar of cheering for the Prince swept up from the packed thoroughfare. When the sounding of the Last Post and Reveille brought the short ceremony to a close, the Prince turned and with his escort stance! to walk away. As if with one accord the dense masses of humanity packed on the pavements surged forward. POLICEMEN RESCUE THE PRINCE. In a moment the Prince was surrounded by a seething throng of people cheering madly and waving hats and flags. A small force of foot policeman formed up m a compact bodv around him, and then a squad of mounted men ploughed through the crowd and cleared a narrow lane down which the Prince was able to walk. Then someone started to sing, “Ho s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Thousands of voices took up tho song, and the thoroughfare pang with the rousing chorus. Before the singing had died down the police ha;l manoeuvred a w*ay of escape for the Prince, and he was gone before tho majority realised it , , , Pilgrimages to tho Cenotaph have been the order of each day since November il, people arriving in Whitehall from every point of the compass and from long distances, ever adding to the piles of beautiful wreaths and choice flowers about the base of the Cenotaph. PREACHER CHEERED. ExService men attending a Cenotaph parade at Islington Green on Sunday were so moved at the memorial service whicn followed at Islington Chapel that they burst into cheering when the minister, the Rev. J. Shepherd, ended his sermon. Theio was an attempt on tho part of some in tho congregation to stop the cheering, out il went on for some moments. The Rev. J. Shepherd stated later that ho did not disapprove of the demonstration. ‘‘l wish people would express their feelings,” he said. “ Preaching in church is very monotonous, and this was a welcome experience.”