Telling Our Stories
Posted by Bill Molesworth
on Jun 13, 2012
We met at the Sports Centre with members of Askenonia and of the Midland Secondary School so our regular meeting schedule was much amended. After words of welcome from Judy Contin and O Canada, a nod to Queen, Country and Rotary and our prayer led by Ron the meeting was turned back to Judy.
The primary purpose of this joint lunch was to see a couple of examples of the work of MSS students who have been creating an oral history of Midland by interviewing some of our senior residents. Midland Rotary has contributed to this work with some funding and individual Rotarians, specifically Dean Nicholls, have participated as subjects.
We saw an edited version of Dean's interview and, as usual, he was not at a loss for words. His recollections of moving here as a young lad from a pristine countryside and encountering the smells, noise and activity of a large and busy town were interesting and his insights into the Town's development probably very helpful to the students.
Bill Jamieson, from Chrisitan Island, had served in the Canadian Forces as a communications specialist and had been posted to peace keeping missions in Israel, Egypt and the Congo. He retired from that and worked in Ottawa with survivors of the residential schools before moving back to the Island where he has served as a counsellor and is working on establishing a memorial to those first nations people who have made the final sacrifice.
In comments after the screenings Bill encouraged more communication between the Island residents and those of us on the mainland, saying that we don't know much about each other. He said he felt that oral history was dying due to inroads of TV and other media. Dean encouraged us to support the war memorial.
John Faragher thanked the Club for its contributions to the project and the museum for its support, saying the students will continue to be involved and that it is a valuable exercise for them.
Brian, from the museum, mentioned that the longer versions of the interviews are available and will be posted, soon, on line.
Ron reminded us that Wasaga Beach is selling tickets on a Corvette again so get in touch with them about buying one. And Bill Richardson wants to remind everyone that there will be a vote on June 26. The International Committee is recommending $10,000.00 for Life4Kids and $5,000.00 for water filters. The funds are available.
As the meeting departed a bit from its regular rhythm, so has this report but it was an interesting event for those of us there.
The primary purpose of this joint lunch was to see a couple of examples of the work of MSS students who have been creating an oral history of Midland by interviewing some of our senior residents. Midland Rotary has contributed to this work with some funding and individual Rotarians, specifically Dean Nicholls, have participated as subjects.
We saw an edited version of Dean's interview and, as usual, he was not at a loss for words. His recollections of moving here as a young lad from a pristine countryside and encountering the smells, noise and activity of a large and busy town were interesting and his insights into the Town's development probably very helpful to the students.
Bill Jamieson, from Chrisitan Island, had served in the Canadian Forces as a communications specialist and had been posted to peace keeping missions in Israel, Egypt and the Congo. He retired from that and worked in Ottawa with survivors of the residential schools before moving back to the Island where he has served as a counsellor and is working on establishing a memorial to those first nations people who have made the final sacrifice.
In comments after the screenings Bill encouraged more communication between the Island residents and those of us on the mainland, saying that we don't know much about each other. He said he felt that oral history was dying due to inroads of TV and other media. Dean encouraged us to support the war memorial.
John Faragher thanked the Club for its contributions to the project and the museum for its support, saying the students will continue to be involved and that it is a valuable exercise for them.
Brian, from the museum, mentioned that the longer versions of the interviews are available and will be posted, soon, on line.
Ron reminded us that Wasaga Beach is selling tickets on a Corvette again so get in touch with them about buying one. And Bill Richardson wants to remind everyone that there will be a vote on June 26. The International Committee is recommending $10,000.00 for Life4Kids and $5,000.00 for water filters. The funds are available.
As the meeting departed a bit from its regular rhythm, so has this report but it was an interesting event for those of us there.