MILITARY TATTOO AND PAGEANT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 191, 9 May 1940, Page 14

MILITARY TATTOO AND PAGEANT

Wellington Plans

With Hie object of creating an atmosphere of enthusiasm for the cause of the Allies and to impress on New Zealanders the need for universal voluntary service, a military tattoo and “Pageant of Empire” will be staged in the Town Hall, Wellington, on the night of the King’s Birthday, June 3. The proposal was approved by the Wellington Recruiting Committee at a recent meeting. The gathering will follow closely the lines of the British' Empire League's “Festival of Remembrance,” which is a feature in London every Armistice Day, when the great Albert Hall is filled with ex-servicemen. It is hoped that the Trentham Band will be available. If so, it will march from the War Memorial at 7.30 to the Town Hall, playing en route. In the Town Hall, which will be specially decorated for the occasion, there will be community singing of wartime songs from 7.50 to 8 p.m., when the pageant will begin with a procession from the main entrance of the hall to the stage. The procession will consist of standardbearers leading veterans of pre-Boer War days, Boer War veterans, “Old Contemptibles,” returned soldiers of the Great War, naval ratings, Royal Air Force, Red Gross nurses, representatives of Australia, Canada, India and other parts of the Empire, Maoris, a detachment of the third echelon from Trentham, and consuls and representatives of the various countries allied with Britain in the present war. Representatives of sports bodies will also take part in the pageant, with prominent sportsmen now serving with the New Zealand forces.

Brief speeches will be given by leading citizens of the Dominion. Arrangements have also been made for various sporting fixtures for the afternoon of the King’s Birthday, when teams of serving soldiers will meet representative civilian teams in friendly matches.