IT IS to be hoped that a particularly interesting and important event will not be adversely affected by the Pope's visit.
On the evening of Saturday, May 29, at Westminster Central Hall, the New Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra will be giving a special performance of Verdi's Requiem.
Traffic arrangements in central London may make access to this event difficult. For the Pope will be almost simultaneously meeting hundreds of people only a few hundred yards away at the reception being given at Archbishop's House.
This very fact, however, could perhaps be turned to advantage by Mr Joseph Pilbery. the concert's organiser and conductor. Those who have been meeting the Pope may well feel like strolling down to the concert afterwards which, conveniently, starts at 8.15.
The concert marks the tenth anniversary of the New Westminster Philharmonic and the proceeds will go to the British National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness.
As such venues as the South Bank and St John's, Smith Square, this enterprising orchestra has done a particularly good job in popularising classical music — if this is not a contradiction in terms.
It deserves commendation.
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