King Township Historical Society and Villanova College present special concert at Marylake

And now, and ever after,

Their fame will grow with years;

They came with songs and laughter

We leave them here with tears.

Frederick G. Scott, Senior Chaplain

1st Canadian Division, B.E.F.

1914 Christmas Truce Concert

The King Township Historical Society and Villanova College Concert Band combined to present an evening concert which featured a University of Toronto Faculty of Music vocal quartet (pictured below), on Friday evening, December 5.   In addition to 16 musical selections, the evening featured recitations of poignant letters from the trenches.   Two of the evenings musical selections were O Tannenbaum and Auld Lang Syne and the audience of 300 sang along to both songs using lyrics printed in their programmes  

Pictured left to right:  Will Ford (tenor), Nicholas Borg (baritone), 
Melissa Peiou (mezzo soprano) and Amanda Cogan (soprano) 

Pictured above is Grant Armitage with one of two banjos that were played by his great-great-uncle Joseph Howe, while entertaining World War I troops.   Grant is a guitarist who only took up the banjo a month before the Marylake concert.   He started the musical portion of the evening with a traditional rendition of 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary'.   The military uniform that Grant wore during his presentation was a 75-year-old original outfit worn by a relative of King Township historian, Gavin Watt.

While many people were recognized for their contributions to the successful concert, special thanks were extended to historical society member, Diana Armitage, for her efforts and leadership in producing a moving and memorable evening of music and historical sentiment. 

Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace