EVE OF WATERLOO RE-ENACTED

Hokitika Guardian, 24 August 1931, Page 3

EVE OF WATERLOO RE-ENACTED

REVELRY BY NIGHT. WALTZING AAD GUNNERY. LONDON, June 16. One of the electric moments of history—a moment which Byron has crystallised lor ever in the , famous stanzab of ‘Lmide 'Harold”—was re-created last night in a London ball-room. The; occasion was the Waterloo Ball, held at Grosvenor House on the 116th .anniversary of the Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels. Last night's function, in aid oT the social worn of bt. John's Church, Waterloo' Road, was held under the cnairmanship of the Marchioness Douro—the. presence of the wife of a great-grandson of the victor of Waterloo adding to the associations of the occasion.

The evening was one of vivid colourful contrasts. Shingled heads and modern evening frocks vied with the curls i.nd curves of 1815. And it must be acknowledged that the • Empire gowns, many of them , in delicate pastel shades <on trusting admirably with the fierce primary colours of the military uniforms, stood the test very, .well indeed.

Lady Douro. received the guests. At her table, brilliant with the regimental plate of th > Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, there was no hint of modernity-; ..md behind her chair hung Lady Butler’s picture “Dawn of Waterloo.”

A large canvas, the work of Mr John Bull, depicting the original -ball-room at Brussels, and a. reproduction ot an old sketch-map of the battle, were other decorations; and, seen through a series of false windows, old.-. Brussels by. night surrounded the dancers.

Shortly after midnight a hush fed on the crowded room, and Mr J. C. Squire spoke three of the • well-remembered stanzas—“ There was a sound of revelry by night. .. .” Miss Dorothy Silk sang some old ijnglish songs, and the band struck up a waltz. Gradually the noise of guns in the far distance grew. ■A fanfare of trumpets from the steps of the ball-room, and the music faltered and died.

The' Bovnl "Horse Guards Trumpeters marched through the ball-room, and the, pipers of the Queen’s Own Garneionians took their place. As the pipes in turn died away there was a march tune from the band, and then the twentieth century came into its own

again. Modernity’s final triumph came with the appearance of “Eve,” the graceful contortionist dancer from “Ever Green. '