[ Liverpool Anglican Cathedral was constructed between 1904 – 1978]

That summer vacation saw one national event of note—the laying of the foundation stone of the new Liverpool Cathedral by the King [Edward VII]. The evening before the ceremony there was a final rehearsal by the bands and choirs, all in the open, of course. It was a bright summer’s evening, and St James’s Road was thronged from end to end, and I was there, alone, in the pack, feeling strangely stirred at realising that I was part of a momentous occasion. But that was nothing compared to the immeasurable wave of emotion that swept over me, unawares, almost engulfing me, when the massed bands and choirs concluded by bursting into the mighty strains of the Hallelujah Chorus, new to me. I wept. It was one of the rare moments of ecstasy in a lifetime.