| Main Performers | General Bramwell Booth,
Commissioner J Ogrim (Stockholm),
Commissioner James Hay (Melbourne),
Commander E C Booth (New York),
Commissioner F de Lautour Booth-Tucker (India) - speakers |
| Orchestra or Band | United Bands of the Salvation Army (International Staff band, Chalk Farm, Congress Hall, Norland Castle, Penge) |
| Set List | Demonstration of the World-Wide Activities of the Salvation Army:
Reading of letters from HM The King, Lord Mayor of London and the Duke of Connaught (Governor General of Canada), and President of the United States Woodrow Wilson (Bramwell Booth),
March Past the General (delegate sin 24 sections),
Welcome (Bramwell Booth),
Addresses (Commissioner J Ogrim, Commissioner James Hay, Commander E C Booth, Commissioner F de Lautour Booth-Tucker) |
| Performance Notes | "The Albert Hall presented a remarkable appearance last night at the reception of the International delegates to the Salvation Army Congress. The galleries were draped with white, and against this background were decorations of red, white, and blue and a profusion of the flags and banners of nearly every nation in the world.
Every seat in the tiers was occupied and the floor of the hall when the delegates had filed across the platform and filled the seats was a wonderful spectacle. In the middle was a mass of dull crimson, the hats of the delegates from the United States of America, and on the outskirts of this group shimmered every range and gradation of colour and costume. There were Swiss guides in their mountain dress bearing alpenstocks, Koreans in white with small black hats, Indians in turbans of golden yellow and trailing draperies, Kaffirs swathed in red blankets, German soldiers plumed and helmeted - almost every race and every nation were represented in the cosmopolitan medley.
One does not usually associate the Salvation Army with the idea of boisterous humour, but gaiety was the dominant note of last night's gathering. The score of Korean delegates, who were the first representatives to march across the platform, knelt before the General, bowed, and rubbed their foreheads on the ground. The Australians gave their "Cooee". The Americans marched on to the strain of the "Star Spangled Banner". When the South African delegates marched across the Kaffirs performed a war dance.
In moving contrast was the reception given to the Canadians. Their delegates filed across the platform to the music of the "Maple Leaf for Ever" while the whole audience rose and stood silent in memory of their dead comrades who lie in the St Lawrence River.
Mr Bramwell Booth read the following message from the King :-
"I join in the welcome which your International Congress will receive, and I hope you may have a successful series of gatherings. I have for many years watched with deep interest your work for the people, especially for the most unfortunate citizens of the Empire. I think that work it carried on with great ability and with much self sacrifice and unselfish zeal. I trust that it will go forward in all parts of the world, and that the blessing of God will continue to rest upon you."
(The Times, 12 June 1914) |