IN MEMORIAM BELLS.

Shannon News, 25 September 1923, Page 3

IN MEMORIAM BELLS.

A WONDER CARILLON

LOUGHBOROUGH, Eng., July 27. Forty-seven bells, blending Uke the notes oi an organ, pealed tne soulful music ul Chopin’s Funeral March far over the low-lying .-' Leicestershjbe. countryside around Loughborough mbs 'afternoon.

More than 100,000 people thronging the -streets of the small town stood 'shent with heads bowed. It .was the town’s reiii’arhable .' tribute 'to the memory of 500 of its men who fefi in me war. A picturesque memorial tower of. red brick, rising out of glistening white. Portland stone to the green copper cupola 150 feet high, has been bunt on toe border of a slumbering Jake of water-lilies in Queen’s Parkon the fringe of the town. It was lroui this tower, and from what is claitued to be tbe .most wonderful carillon in the world, that the bell music came. , Every bell, from the deep-toned giant weighing four tons to the midget of barely twenty pounds, responded like an orchestral performer to the magic touch of - Chevalier Jef Denyn, the grey-haired oariilonueur of Marines Cathedral. SPELLBOUND.

A clavier in the belfry—a keyboard oi iievers—communicates by. quivering wires with the bells, which are: responsive. to the player’s most delicate touch.

The: cnevalicr,, an impressive figure as he stood at the clavier, held every I’.n spell bound with the refrain of Elgar’s “Land of Hope and Glory.” It might have been the crescerido’of a mighty organ, so full of feeling were tio.' notes. * Mmc. Melba, the great singer, stood on the tiny platform, near Field-Mar-shal Sir William Robertson, who unveiled the memorial. She listened, evidently moved, and her lips seemed to be l'oruing the words as the beautiful chimes rang out. v - Below her were sad-faced mo hers and fathers, young widows weeping quietly, and wondering children, who glanced down frequently at the media is pinned on their collars—tokens of sacrifice won by fathers some of them bad never seen. . WORKERS’ SAVINGS. The’ achievement of this war memorial is full of wonderful human touches. The bells have cost £7OOO, and the workpeople of the town saved less instances even a few pence, each week in, order to raise the sum. The hells were made in Loughborough, which is famous throughout the world for its holi-casting. The tower cost more than £lO,'W to build.