Tuesday, May 31, 2011

PORT DOVER MARINE HERITAGE FESTIVAL 2011

June 17 - 19, 2011

The MARINE HERITAGE FESTIVAL in Port Dover combines Historical Naval / Military re-enactments with demonstrations along with lots of other great entertainment.

The brigantine (tall ship) St. Lawrence II will be at the pier and in the harbour for the entire event.

On Friday (June 17) the vessel will be part of the Education Day programs.

On Saturday and Sunday it will host deck tours by the public and even serve as a stage for musical events.

The St. Lawrence II will also participate in the twilight “Battle on The Beach” on Saturday (June 18) evening.

The weekend’s program will also include opportunities for audience participation in the form of hands-on demonstrations and teaching sessions.

GUNBOATS IN THE CREEK
1812 NAVAL & MILITARY RE-ENACTMENTS,
TALL SHIP - ST. LAWRENCE II
FAMILY ACTIVITIES, DEMONSTRATIONS, GREAT MUSIC & MORE

For more information, please contact:

PORT DOVER HARBOUR MUSEUM
519-583-2660
portdover.museum@norfolkcounty.ca
www.portdovermuseum.ca

SAVE THE DATE: ST. GEORGE ANTIQUE SHOW SEPT 3rd & 4th, 2011

Mark your calendars now!

Announcing the return of the Village of St. George Fall ANTIQUE SHOW!

LABOUR DAY WEEKEND
September 3rd and 4th, 2011

Saturday 10 am to 5 pm & Sunday 11 am to 5 pm

A St. George tradition for over 20 years.

Quality dealers presenting a range of antiques;
Light lunches, delicious desserts, coffee & tea

Located at the St. George Arena (The South Dumfries Community Centre) -
Approx. 15 minutes west of Flamboro Downs Race Track on Highway #5

Admission $5.00 (under 12 free with an adult).

Plenty of free parking.

Stay and browse and then visit the shops and restaurants downtown, too!

For more information, call Jeff Stutley at (905) 659-1166 or email: dsimpson@bfree.on.ca

Hosted by the South Dumfries Historical Society/St. George Museum & Archives

THE BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK - WILL BE RE-ENACTED THIS WEEKEND

Re-enactment celebrates 30th anniversary this weekend


If you think history is all dusty and library-quiet, head out to Stoney Creek this weekend and you will be proven wrong!

The famous Battle of Stoney Creek will be commemorated on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Battlefield House Museum and Park, with battle re-enactments on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

There will also be fireworks after the Saturday evening battle.

Battlefield House Museum and Park curator Susan Ramsay says “Visitors to the event this year can expect to experience a wide variety of activities and historical content, so that they can understand what life was like during the War of 1812.”

The Burlington Teen Tour Band will perform on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on the battlefield. Known as Canada’s Musical Ambassadors, the band has attended many events, including 60th VE-Day anniversary celebrations in Holland, 60th D-Day anniversary celebrations in France and ceremonies marking the 50th and 60th anniversary of the liberation of Holland by Canadian forces during the Second World War – to name only a few highlights.

Visitors are invited to re-live history all weekend long, while enjoying food and refreshments, a fashion show of women’s clothing from 1805 to 1815, historical demonstrations, musical entertainment, one-of-a-kind shopping and period games.

Visitors can also take a guided tour through the 200-year-old Gage homestead, a trip through the 19th century encampment or they can listen to Indian war hero, Tecumseh, as he recounts the story of his life.

Archaeologists will be on site to discuss the current archaeological excavations taking place in Battlefield Park.

Admission to the Re-enactment of the Battle of Stoney Creek weekend is $8 for adults and $2 for youth. The event is free for children under five.

For more information, call (905) 662-8458 or visit www.battlefieldhouse.ca.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Reminder: DIGITAL PRESERVATION DAYS THIS WEEK

HELP PRESERVE OUR HISTORY

DIGITAL PRESERVATION DAYS THIS WEEK

The South Dumfries Historical Society and the County of Brant Public Library will be hosting special Digital Preservation Days at the Glen Morris and St. George Branch Libraries.

This is your chance to preserve your family's history and help us build an online historical collection that will be preserved for generations to come.

All types of items are welcome to be digitized, and nothing is too old or too new!
Bring your photos and documents like team pictures, street scenes, school pictures or land deeds, family histories, and ledgers....even physical artifacts can be photographed and included in the collection!

Please also consider – if these dates and times are not convenient – contacting us so that we can make other arrangements.

If you know a neighbour, a friend or a relative who might also have items of interest, please encourage them to visit us or contact us.

If you have family photos with streetscape or other area backgrounds, they can be of great interest to historians – even for fashions and the types of cars that show up.

Bring your photos in and we’ll scan them for you. You keep the original, and you can get a scanned copy, and we keep a copy for our archives.

Artifacts can include a wide range of things – from team uniforms, dairy bottles, store advertisements, trophies, farm equipment, toys, etc.

Some images may be added to our online historical photo collection – and we will ask your permission in this regard. We may also have questions to assist us in accurately cataloguing materials – but do not be embarrassed if you are sketchy on details – and do not stay away on that account - we will all do the best we can.

Thank you for helping with this project!

Glen Morris Branch
When: Tuesday, May 10
Time: Noon-4:00 p.m.
Cost: Free event

St. George Branch
When: Friday, May 13
Time: Noon-4:00 p.m.
Cost: Free event

*

This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Friday, May 6, 2011

JANE'S WALK - THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT!

May 4th would have been Jane Jacobs’ birthday. The Jane’s Walks held all over the world this weekend - including the St. George Walk this Sunday at 3 p.m. - honour her memory and keep her ideas alive.

Born Jane Butzner in Scranton, Pennsylvania, she would move to New York City one year after graduating from the Scranton High School.

Her famous book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was published in 1961.

She moved with her family to Toronto in 1968 and lived there until her death in 2006.

To quote from the proclamation of former Toronto Mayor David Miller, when the City proclaimed May 4, 2007 as “Jane Jacobs Day:”

“She inspired and taught the world how to understand and value our cities, almost single-handedly transforming our ideas about urban life.

Jane Jacobs was a writer, outspoken urban activist, a philosopher of everyday life and an innovator. Her book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" brought into focus the premise that cities are engines of growth whose vitality stems from the variety of activities people engage in. In other books she analyzed how cities function with one another and how to live in a world of conflicting moral principles.

Jane Jacobs' arguments were from the ground up, with in-depth observations of everyday places, teaching us about 'eyes on the street', life on the sidewalk and that walkable, dense, compact and diverse neighbourhoods were the hallmarks of a healthy city, where people join their creative energies.”

From the Jane’s Walk press release:

On the May 7 and 8 weekend, thousands of Canadians will take to the streets to mark the fifth annual Jane’s Walk, a series free, urban neighbourhood tours that inspire citizens to get to know their city and each other by getting out and walking. The homegrown innovation will stroll through more than 30 cities across Canada and more than 70 cities worldwide in celebration of Jane Jacobs’s birthday (May 4).

In total, more than 12,000 walkers will take part in over 500 tours led by passionate and friendly locals who want to share their inside tips on great places to walk, hang out, shop, eat and explore in their own neighbourhoods. New international Jane’s Walk partnerships this year include Sao Paulo (Brazil), Wuhan (China), Tel Aviv, (Israel), Colchester and Hereford (England), Berlin (Germany), Guadalajara (Mexico), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Carcar (Philippines).

“Jane Jacobs is the foremost urban thinker of our time,” says Jane Farrow, executive director of Jane’s Walk. “She encouraged people to familiarize themselves with the places where they live, work and play – believing in the importance of local residents having input on how their neighbourhoods develop.”

2011 is also the 50th anniversary of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the best-selling book that introduced Jane Jacobs’ ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail. Her community-centred vision started with the idea that local residents know best how to shape and improve their neighbourhoods. Foremost is her simple yet revolutionary idea that dense, mixed use neighborhoods are the key to the health and survival of a city. Decades later, it has become a model for generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists.

A new Jane’s Walk iPhone® app allows users across Canada to sort the walks by date, neighbourhood and location for free. This year’s tours walk the gamut with everything from the historical to the controversial:

• Explore the changing face of Edmonton's Original Warehouse District;
• Stroll Calgary’s Chinatown, one of the city’s oldest and much loved neighbourhoods;
• Experience the University of Saskatchewan’s century-old tradition of architectural quality and hear some of the stories told in stone;
• Wander through Beacon Hill Park and learn about how this part of Victoria has been used in the past by first nations, early settlers, current residents;
• Bring your binoculars to see the birds and bees in Guelph, a walking tour about urban wildlife;
• Wheel your way from Ottawa’s Rideau Centre to the Byward Market and back as you discuss issues of mobility access in the capital city’s downtown core;
• Learn about food production in Montreal’s Villeray community and how to reduce our dependence on oil by eating local and delicious dishes;
• Discover the fascinating cultural history and award-winning murals of the West End, Winnipeg’s most diverse community;
• Walk the harbour and Water St. area of St. John’s as you discuss the historical city’s transition from a compact, walkable, habour-focused city to a widely dispersed city dependent on automobile transportation.

WARTIME PLAQUE RESCUED AND DONATED TO THE ST. GEORGE LEGION

At the May 4, 2011 meeting of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 605, a presentation was made of a special plaque.

On hand to make the presentation was Graham Malcolm, of the Malcolm Condensing Company Ltd. family. The long-time landmark dairy, opposite the Old School on Beverly Street East in St. George, is in the process of being demolished.

Also on hand was Tim Nesbitt, from the St. George Volunteer Fire Department, who rescued from the demolition a plaque that had been displayed in the dairy office for years - apparently honouring employees of the company who answered the call to serve their country in the Second World War.

"Our Empire Called - They Served," reads a heading on the plaque.

Listed below that heading are twelve names (and a spot where one name has evidently gone missing over the years).

Here is a approximation of the list of names (in two columns):

[Left hand column]

L. Wehrstein
Donald Burke
H. Nickerson
Jack Bailey
Erlin Myers
Gilbert Mannen
William Howell

[Right hand column]

Hugh Trendell
Marquis Golden
Russell Mundie
John H. Malcolm
Gordon Lee
[missing name]

Legion branch president, Joe Muldoon, accepted the gift on behalf of Branch 605 and confirmed that it would hang with honour in the front room of the Legion.

John Wehrstein (joined by his wife Joan) shared memories of his father Lloyd Wehrstein, the first name listed on the plaque, with those in attendance.

Lloyd was well known as the village barber up until his retirement in 1985, and his father was the barber before that.

Lloyd worked at Malcolm's sometime before the war and then joined the RCAF 405 squadron, working as a ground mechanic. John indicated that his father would have liked to have been a pilot, but did not pass the eyesight requirements...

He worked on the Avro Lancaster bombers during the war.

Mr. Wehrstein served for four years, from 1941 - 1945, and then returned to St. George to take over the family business.

John also recalled his father's good friend Russell Mundie, known as "Duke," who was Lloyd's best man at his wedding.

Mr. Malcolm recalled Donald Burke - who lived on Beverly Street and joined the RCAF as a bomber pilot. He remembered that Mr. Burke had married Laurel Paterson, the "girl next door" and also that he had bought the first Studebaker Starlight Coupe in town - baby blue and gorgeous!

Mr. Malcolm also spoke about his father, John H. Malcolm, who joined the army, initially with the 2nd/10th Dragoons from Brantford. He trained at first in Canada at Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia (a tough place to spend a winter) and was promoted to the rank of Captain in Halifax before he shipped over to England. He had further training in England in 1943, but was injured in 1944 when a landing net he and others were climbing let loose as they neared the top - sending them down hard to the shale beach below.

John Malcolm spent approximately two months in hospital following that accident. When he had recovered and was released, he embarked with a driver on a jeep adventure to find his good friend Dudley Brooks and take him a bottle of scotch to share. Dudley would soon after take part in the D-Day landings at Normandy. John survived the War and returned home on the Queen Elizabeth.

There are many more stories behind the names on the plaque. Marquis Golden was known as "Gus." Gordon Lee had the paint factory in town. Hugh Trendell lived on Beverly Street at the corner of King William.

Mr. Malcolm and John Wehrstein, along with Donna Howell from the Legion, indicated that they would work together to document the stories behind the names on the plaque so that the memories can live on.