TRIBUTE TO B.B.C. ANNOUNCERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 97, 10 August 1943, Page 4

TRIBUTE TO 8.8.C. ANNOUNCERS

REGULAR listeners to the London news service will appreciate the story told by a visiting 8.8.C. official (Mr Tritton) concerning the simple and matter-of-fact announcement, "This is the British Broadcasting Corporation" immediately following a dramatic presentation in which the whistle of a falling bomb was heard and. a woman's startled exclamation. But the public in this part of the world may not realise that this little incident parted the veilwhich shrouds the grim realities of British broadcasting in wartime. During the enemy blitz attacks on London two years or so ago there were many a night when the calm, unhurried voices of B.B..Q.,announcers continued to give out the news while bombs fell near at hand. A very fine example, in the highest British tradition of quiet courage, was provided by the 8.8.C. staff on those perilous occasions. There can be no doubt that the regular reading of bulletins, steadily, clearly, and without hesitation or excited dramatics, must have been of tremendous value to national morale not only in Britain but throughout the Empire. Such readings were as a sturdy rock for millions of anxious listeners. The men who performed them have frequently come under the fire, of captious petty criticism - Too seldom has recognition been given to the splendid re-

cord of service they have built up and maintained.

Primary Production Attention of readers is drawn to the. advertisement in to-day's issue calling a meeting of residents in the Manawahe Hall on Saturday next for the purpose of electing representatives to the District Primary Production Council. * .. ' i'v ,

Meat Skewers Wanted Butchers arc complaining that they can no longer buy woodan. meat sikewers, which have become so essential since they have trained the public to rounds of beef instead of the old-fashioned joint with bone included. ; .-'•ii.;. it.,