THE CONNECTION
Bruce Peninsula Seniors Connect Inc. Newsletter
Tobermory, Lion’s Head, Wiarton, Sauble Beach
Issue 14 – November 2006
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BRUCE PENINSULA SENIORS CONNECT IS ENTIRELY FUNDED THROUGH DONATIONS. ANY DONATIONS WOULD BE GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED.
90 Main St, P.O. Box 902, Lion’s Head, Ontario N0H 2T0 Phone: 519-793-3781 Fax: 519-793-4761
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IN FLANDERS FIELDS
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD
(1872-1918)
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The History of the Poppy
Why was the poppy chosen as the symbol of remembrance for Canada's war dead? The poppy, an
international symbol for those who died in war, also had international origins.
A writer first made the connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths during the
Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, remarking that fields that were barren before battle
exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended.
Prior to the First World War few poppies grew in Flanders. During the tremendous
bombardments of that war the chalk soils became rich in lime from rubble, allowing 'popaver
rhoeas' to thrive. When the war ended the lime was quickly absorbed, and the poppy began to
disappear again.
Lieut-Col. John McCrae, the Canadian doctor who wrote the poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS,
made the same connection 100 years later, during the First World War, and the scarlet poppy
quickly became the symbol for soldiers who died in battle.
Three years later an American, Moina Michael, was working in a New York City YMCA canteen
when she started wearing a poppy in memory of the millions who died on the battlefield. During a
1920 visit to the United States a French woman, Madame Guerin, learned of the custom. On her
return to France she decided to use handmade poppies to raise money for the destitute children in
war-torn areas of the country. In November 1921, the first poppies were distributed in Canada.
Thanks to the millions of Canadians who wear the flowers each November, the little red plant has
never died. And neither have Canadian's memories for 117,000 of their countrymen who died in
battle.
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Royal Canadian Legion
Remembrance Activities
in Bruce Peninsula area
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Lion’s Head – Branch 202
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Sunday – 5 November
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10:15
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Memorial Service at Knox Presbyterian Church in Stokes Bay
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Saturday – 11 November
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9:15
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Service of Remembrance at the Lindsay Cenotaph
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11:00
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Service of Remembrance at the Lion’s Head Cenotaph
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Wiarton – Branch 208
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Saturday – 11 November
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10:30
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Veterans form up at Legion
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11:00
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Service of Remembrance at Wiarton Cenotaph
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11:45
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Service of Remembrance at St. John’s United Church followed by Parade back to the Legion
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1:00
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Sing-a-long with Comrade Bud Orr
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1:30
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Dedication of Oliver DeLeary Room and Plaque
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2:30
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Music by “Midnight Blue”
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5:00
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Social Hour
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6:15
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Dinner – Advance tickets only, available at the bar – Deadline for tickets, Tuesday, 7 November
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Tobermory – Branch 290
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Saturday – 11 November
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11:00
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Memorial Service at the Tobermory Cenotaph
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11:45
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Lunch at the Legion Hall after the Service
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Hepworth – Branch 586
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Sunday – 5 November
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11:15
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Memorial Service at Knox United Church in Hepworth
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Saturday – 11 November
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11:00
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Memorial Service at the Hepworth Cenotaph
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11:30
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Return to the Legion Hall for food, drinks and socializing
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~ Red Fridays ~
All branches are advised of the current “Red
Friday” movement promoting the wearing of red items on Fridays to show support to our troops.
Please note that The Royal Canadian Legion endorses all such support programs and encourages all of our
branches to express their support publicly.
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It’s A Pittance Of Time - Lest We Forget
(Click the title to listen to the song – 6.2M)
In peace may they rest - may we never forget...
Written by Terry Kelly
[Good morning shoppers. At 11 O’Clock on this 11th day of November,
we’d like to invite you to share with us 2 minutes of silence
in honour of our veterans…]
They fought and some died for their homeland,
They fought and some died – now it’s our land;
Look at his little child – there’s no fear in her eyes –
Could he not show respect for other Dads who have died?
Take 2 minutes would you mind – It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and their girls who went over;
In peace may they rest, May we never forget
Why they died – It’s a pittance of time.
God forgive me for wanting to strike him,
Give me strength so as not to be like him;
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips…
My throat wants to fall out – my tongue barely resists…
But 2 minutes I will bide - It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and their girls who went over;
In peace may they rest, may we never forget
Why they died – It’s a pittance of time.
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles and fears of their own;
There’s a price to be paid – if you go, if you stay,
Freedom’s fought for and won in numerous ways.
Take 2 minutes would you mind – It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and their girls all over;
In peace may they rest, May they never forget
Our young become vets
At the end of the line - It’s a pittance of time.
It takes courage to fight in your own war,
It takes courage to fight someone else’s war,
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that hate mongers can’t kill.
Take 2 minutes would you mind – It’s a pittance of time,
For the boys and their girls who go over;
In peace time our best, still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line - It’s a pittance of time.
In peace may they rest,
Lest we forget
Why they died
Take a pittance of time…
read the story behind the song, go to
www.remembrance-day.ca
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Remembrance Day Memories
(Shortened Version)
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It is good and fitting that on November 11 each year we conduct ceremonies to remember the
armed forces that gave (and are still giving) so much to preserve our freedom. Let us also remember
the countless civilians who suffer through acts of war and terrorism. The following is my childhood
memories of World War II in England.
I was 8 years old that summer day when war was declared. My parents, brother and I were
concluding a visit to my grandma who lived a number of miles from us. I didn't understand it or why
everyone was so serious and worried. As soon as we arrived home, my dad set about making ‘black
out’ blinds for all our windows and there were many. Dad said, “it won't be for long and thank
goodness your brother will be too young for the army.”
Those blinds stayed in place for 6 years and brother Harry spent the last 3 years of the war
in the navy on the treacherous Atlantic. We soon learned never to show a light anywhere. My dad had
to give up driving his car as petrol was not available for civilian use so it was locked away in a
garage for “the duration.” Ration books were distributed for food and clothes. Much later in life
my mother said I paid her the biggest complement by saying I never remember being hungry as she
concocted all sorts of things out of all sorts of things in order to put food on the table.
The street kids and myself were very put out as our promenade “playground” by the sea was
declared off limits and isolated with barb wire. We couldn’t care less about an invasion and just
wanted to hang on to our beach and fields for our playing. I couldn't sleep in my own bedroom
upstairs as I was relegated to a bed on the floor in the pantry underneath the stairs. This was because
bombed houses often collapsed around a still intact staircase. Whilst sleeping, my dad would patrol
the streets, my mum would be on duty at the first-aid post and my brother would be on the school
roof to report any fires. Going to school was ‘fun’ as we often missed classes when the air-raid siren
blasted, as we had to go into air-raid shelters in the playground but sometimes the teacher made us
recite out times tables!! I never remember being afraid, but came to realize the seriousness of the
situation whilst listening to radio reports and seeing neighbours receiving telegrams saying – missing
– prisoner – or killed. This awareness only came to me at the end of the war and happily it did end
and my brother and others came home and all that excitement will wait ‘till another story!
Patricia Horner
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Vivid Memories
of a 10 Year Old
I was born in 1933, the height of the depression. War started for me when my mother announced that we in
England were at war with Germany. She also said it would be over by Easter. I was seven and had just heard Winston
Churchill's speech "We Will Never Surrender."
Everything came in a hurry, rationing, removal of all road signs, the 'black out', barrage balloons, search lights, anti-
aircraft displacements, volunteer air raid wardens, air raid police, the little boxes containing your personnel gas masks and
gas mask drills at school.
Life was exciting, in a way, because of the changes. Most of the men were going to war and everything was changing.
Very few cars, no T.V. (Hadn't been invented), no electricity and telephones were few and far between. The radio was only
used for the news so we, as children, knew of very little else, so we didn't miss anything, but we always found something
to do.
We lived on a farm in a very industrial area, so most the factories were converted to support the war effort in the
production of ammunition, guns and armaments.
Thirteen miles east of our farm lay Coventry, which endured a seven day bombing blitz by the "Jerries" and burnt
for another week. Convoys of army ambulances were lined up at the Stratford hospital with badly injured and maimed
civilians waiting for treatment. We had "2 sticks" of bombs land on our farm thereby necessitating that we slept in the cellar.
My brother and I were eventually evacuated to our grandparents in the Cotswold Hills.
I recall gathering around he radio for the 6 o'clock news, it went like this 'This is the BBC News, R. Varde Dell
reading it. Today 197 German planes shot down or destroyed. The Allies (the Brits, Commonwealth and other small nations)
lost 37.' This was like listening to the sports news today. What a lift it gave to the moral of the civilians.
The action in the Far East (Asia) and the Middle East (Libya) was never very good against Field Marshall Rommel,
the top German soldier. Relief only came when the United States started a second front in Morocco.
We witnessed the hug armada of aircraft forming up to leave for the D-Day assault. Ammunition dumps had been
set upon country roadsides with make-do quonset huts. There was very little transport in the area, so this was ideal to avoid
sabotage by the enemy and the locals looked after them.
One of the most significant thing that struck my mind was this scene during mid-war a car pulls up at a little country
cottage in the village. A man in a dark suit with an attache case goes to the door, knocks, touches his trilby and speaks to
the lady of the cottage, "Good Morning, M'dam. I have some unfortunate news for you. Your husband and the father of your
children has been reported as "Missing In Action" and presumed dead. We shall be in touch with you. God bless you." That
took place thousands of times and the communities always took care of the situation.
Towards the end of the war came the "Doodle Bugs", the VI Pilotless Flying Bombs, followed by the VII Rockets
to pound the hell out of London. The moral of the civilians were always very high, but where war is concerned, it is the
innocent civilians that pay the price.
On the other side, Hiroshima and Nagasaki paid very dearly by the slaughter of civilians, including up to ten years
after the event.
In 1951 I received my 'Calling Up' papers "You will find a train pass within. You will make your way to an army
base near Aldershot. Failing to do so, you will be picked up by the authorities and imprisoned." Yes, this was another war,
the Korean Campaign, and as a farmer's son, I obviously was a farm worker, and as such was not considered very highly
qualified for anything. The city recruits soon ridiculed me as a "straw chewer", yet they did not even know where an egg
came from or where milk was made. In other words, I had to prove myself. At the end of 16 weeks basic training, of the 130
'intakes', I qualified first. I specialised in the Royal Engineers, who were considered the experts in bridge construction (the
Bailey bridge), mine warfare, explosives, etc.
I consider these two years to be the best education of my life, although I had had an excellent education at school.
I left the service with impaired hearing from sitting behind a machine gun for days. No hearing protection was provided in
those days. I still, to this day, have a ringing in my ear.
John W Stanley
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| Tobermory Coffee Connection
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Beginning Wednesday, 8 November 2006
10:30 – 12:00
Tobermory Community Centre
The Guest Speakers for this first Coffee Connection will be
Fire Chief Mike Henderson giving a presentation on
Power Outages & Emergency Preparedness
and
Fire Prevention Officer Brian Finger doing a
Fire Prevention presentation
Tobermory Coffee Connection
will continue every Wednesday, 10:30 – 12:00
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Grandma’s Off Her Rocker!
In the dim and distant past,
When life’s tempo wasn't fast,
Grandma used to rock and knit,
Crochet, tat and baby sit.
When we were in a jam,
We could always count on gram.
In the age of gracious living,
Grandma’s life was one of giving.
BUT TODAY....
Now grandma’s at the gym,
Exercising to keep slim,
She’s off touring with the bunch,
Or taking all her friends to lunch.
Driving north to fish or hike,
Taking time to ride her bike.
Nothing seems to block or stop her,
Now that grandma’s off her rocker.
Author Unknown
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| Bruce Peninsula Seniors Connect
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presents a
Crafts & Resource Fair
10:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday
22 November 2006
Tobermory Community Centre
This will be an information fair for anyone who would like to introduce a craft,
or find resources available to the seniors of the Bruce Peninsula.
For further information or to register, please contact the Bruce Peninsula Seniors Connect
office at 519–793–3781 or by email at seniorsconnect@amtelecom.net
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Bruce Peninsula
Seniors Connect
Office hours will be flexible and will be
covered at times
by our volunteers.
Please leave a message
if you get the
answering machine and we will return
your call as soon
as possible.
Your call is important to us!
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Bruce Peninsula
Seniors Connect
is seeking volunteers for various positions and would like to hear from anyone who would consider volunteering a bit of time to help our seniors.
Volunteers are needed to cover office hours, buddy phone calls and friendly visiting.
Call us at 519-793-3781
or email us
seniorsconnect@amtelecom.net
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The Checkered Eye
As seen on the CTV News on 29 October 2006, Libby Thaw, founder of the Checkered Eye Project, has low
vision and is legally blind. Libby is a stay at home mother of four, raising her blended family in Saugeen Shores,
Ontario with her husband Ray.
For more information, write to: The Checkered Eye Project, 409 Peirson Ave, Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada
N0H 2C1, or call 519-389-4956, or visit the links below.
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Coffee Connection
Lion’s Head
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10:30 a.m.
Wednesday
15 November 2006
Guest Speaker
Kathryn Forsyth
Clinical Dietician / Public Health
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