The World is a Stage
Article content
I am often asked when I am doing my historical presentations, and when I have one coming up could I please let individuals know. Well, that is a little difficult on two fronts. One, because I present for various groups and don’t have the authority to invite anyone. And two, between my lousy memory and the number of people interested, I can’t keep track of you.
However! You will be pleased to know I have some presentations coming up that you can attend. The first is this Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Anglican Church (Ridout and Bidwell). I will present Nancy Barker Tillson: First Lady of Tillsonburg. It is a newer presentation which tells how Nancy and George Tillson came to found Tillsonburg and the duties of a woman in the 1800s. It's a powerful story. You will also enjoy coffee/tea and a piece from a glorious selection of pies. (I hope there is chocolate!) Tickets are $10 at the door and all proceeds go to St. John’s Outreach projects, which are just that, projects that reach out into our community.
And here is a great invitation from Tillsonburg Retirement Residence at 183 Rolph St., just north of the hospital. They have booked me for the 2nd Tuesday of every month for about a year and they would like you, the public, to join their residents for the presentations!
The Fall Series will start with Dr. Joy: Tillsonburg’s Man with Eclectic Interests on Oct. 11th. A physician and coroner providing forensic evidence in sensational trials, he also had his own winery and won awards at the Paris 1889 World’s Fair!
Nov. 8 is Tombstone Tales, about four families buried in our Pioneer Graveyard; and Dec. 13 is Tombstone Tales: Part 2, with more of our founder settlers' stories. Both give a little bit of history on the restoration of the graveyard too.
The Fall Presentations begin at 1:30 p.m, there is no charge, and refreshments will be provided. Perhaps though you might like to bring a donation to the Tillsonburg Food Bank. Please RSVP to Debbie at 519-688-0347.
I will be doing Lighthouses: Sentinels of the Past, Souls of the Future, at Straffordville Public Library, 9366 Plank Road, for Library Week on Thursday, Oct. 20 (6:30 p.m.), and of course the public is welcome. Call 519-866-3584 for more details.
In line for Remembrance Day, the Oxford Genealogical Society arranged for my Tillsonburg’s Nightingales in WWI. These are women from Tillsonburg and area who joined the Canadian Army Medical Corp as Nursing Sisters. They did not work in clean sterile hospitals! Florence Nightingale began her mission to organize and build up proper hospital care for the soldiers, yet how does one do that in the rain and muck, living in tents with rats running at your feet? These ladies were heroines, every one of them, and need to be remembered when we honour the men.
This power point presentation takes you through the trenches of France to the horrors of the Dardanelles, to the Ontario Hospital in Orpington, England, where most of the nurses would meet up with friends from home on their way to or from the front.
The Oxford GS meets at the Woodstock Library, 445 Hunter Street, on Monday, Nov. 14, beginning at 6:45 p.m. If you are interested please contact them at 519-421-1700 or oxford@ogs.on.ca for more information or to let them know you are coming.
I have a new power point, Tillsonburg in WWI, now available if anyone is interested in a WWI presentation for this year’s Remembrance Week, but it must be in the evening.
This presentation is a rework of a lecture given in 1993 for the Tillsonburg Legion. To get first hand accounts, I interviewed many people over 85 years of age, in town, at local retirement and long term care facilities. Things did change in the war, but because we were small and rural, the full affects of the war were not as difficult as in larger centres. Many of ‘our boys’ were needed at home to grow food for the war effort.
What was amazing was finding men who told me of their profound experiences in this horrendous war. I was privileged to read several war diaries, starting when they enlisted and received diaries to write in. One man did so faithfully during training and transport across the Atlantic for more training in England, but stopped when he went to the front. One was written after the war, but was obviously needed as a cleansing from the overwhelming, disgusting conditions he endured. Most were Canadians or allies, but one fought as our enemy.
The war was very ugly, and so too are some of the photos, but they need to be seen. Call me at 519-842-9416, if you are interested.