In three hours Emily Lawton will be at Dulles Airport waiting for a plane to take her back to England. For the last four years she has come to Alexandria to volunteer with the Salvation Army for several weeks playing her alto horn beside the “big red donation kettle.” Photo by Shirley Ruhe/Gazette Packet
Emily Lawton pushes down the three piston valves in different combinations on her alto horn, pitched in E-flat and used in British style bands. She is "playing the kettle" as the glass doors automatically swing open but customers stop for a minute to listen before grocery shopping. The mellow rounded tone floats through the Safeway parking garage with "Away in a Manager." Lawton turns the page to "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and shoppers walk past the shiny red Salvation Army kettle located in front of the grocery store. Lawton said, “I don't really know how many people donate because I am concentrating so much on playing my music."
It is 2 p.m. In a few hours Lawton will be at Dulles airport heading back to England after four weeks in the United States volunteering for the Salvation Army. She said, "I have been coming here to do this for four years." She explained she came to America the first time as a Salvation Army volunteer at Christmas as something different to do, to make a difference and to see the world." This year she arrived Nov. 17, but she added that the Salvation Army started collecting this year on Nov. 9. The tradition began in 1891 when a Salvation Army captain sought to find a way to feed 1,000 San Francisco homeless and put out a kettle.
Lawton said she works from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. six days a week as a volunteer, with a few breaks of course. She moves from place to place playing her horn in a different location each day as assigned. "People tell me they like the horn better than the bells." Lawton has been at the Giant on Telegraph Road, the Safeway on Van Dorn and on Fort Hunt and the Giant on Beacon Hill. Today she is bundled up outside the Safeway at Braddock Shopping Center. Lawton said sometimes it gets cold but, "we wear heavy coats, and some days it is quite nice and warm."
She said in England the Salvation Army doesn't have the red kettles but instead they have Salvation Army bands that go around and play and, "we have like a case for donations; oh I don't know what to call them. We call them tins. They are just like this." She makes a small circle with her fingers.
Lawton has been playing the alto horn for about five years. She said she played brass when she was younger but gave it up for a while and then started again, but with the alto horn. When Lawton arrives back in England? "When I get home, I am going to play with the Salvation Army band." She turns the page in her book of music. "I don't really have a favorite, " she said. Lawton straightens her blue felt hat with the Salvation Army insignia and "Winter Wonderland” greets the next visitors.