2017 Clyde River Lectures
Our 5th Annual Clyde River Lecture Series is back after attracting record audiences in 2016. The series has become the place to be on Saturday afternoons during an Island winter, where you can enjoy entertaining stories from the past along with warm hospitality and refreshments. All are welcome to attend. We invite you to take along any memorabilia or photos related to the topics. Tables will be set out to display your items. The lectures take place at the Riverview Community Centre on Clyde River Road.
Photo credit: The Guardian
Saturday, January 21st, 1:30-3:30 p.m. – Carol MacLellan – “The Attraction of Old Home Week” – depicting 125 years of the Provincial Exhibition
Everyone who grew up in PEI has great stories about Old Home Week. Carol says she had enough stories and photos for many books. This rich history covers an important part of Island culture where rural and city folks have come together since 1888 to celebrate at an agricultural fair in Charlottetown. Carol will introduce how the book came about as well as discuss the involvement of the Old Home Week Board and History Committee. She will talk about the interviews, research and how they organized and designed it to make sure they covered the many wonderful aspects of the exhibition. Books will be available for purchase at the event ($20).
Carol MacLellan is a retired teacher having taught all grades from 1-12, starting in a one room school to teaching English in High School. She was Allied Youth Advisor to her students for 20 years and 4-H Leader including Overall Leader for 16 years with the Pleasant Valley 4-H Club. After retirement, she served for 14 years on the Provincial Board of Women’s Institute, the last three representing the National Board of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada. While she was Chair of the Women’s Institute handcrafts and Arts Show at the Provincial Exhibition, she was asked to become involved in writing the history of Old Home Week. “The Attraction of Old Home Week on Prince Edward Island,” depicting 125 years of the Provincial Exhibition.
Saturday, February 4th – 1:30-3:30 p.m. – Author of Those Splendid Girls “The Heroic Service of Island Nurses in the Great War”
In Those Splendid Girls, author Katherine Dewar combines her love of history and knowledge of nursing to redre
ss a 100-year-old wrong: the absence in the historical narratives of both Prince Edward Island and of Canada, of nurses’ experiences in the real War. Told through the stories of Island nurses, their experiences of mud, blood and courage reflect those of women from all provinces who served amid the horrors of WW I. Dewar identifies at least 115 Island women who answered the call to war, many of whose names have not been known until now. Granted rare access to private diaries and fragile photo albums tucked away in dusty attics, she pieces together their stories of hospitals, bombings, fear and friendships to provide this powerful new account of the war. Katherine has received several heritage awards for research and writing, most recently The PEI Museum and Heritage Award of Honour, given for an outstanding contribution to the heritage of P.E.I. over a long period of time. More info at thosesplendidgirls.ca Books will be available for purchase ($27.95).
Saturday, February 18th, 1:30-3:30 p.m. – Alan Buchanan, Storyteller – “Home from Boston: Stories of Island Family Connections in the New England States”
Many Islanders, especially from large families, went to the Boston area in the early part of the 1900s to find work, but they would always return in summers to visit their Island siblings and cousins and enjoy their ancestral Island home. This will be an opportunity to hear Alan’s entertaining stories but also to share your own. For those Boston area cousins that follow us here on our website, we welcome you to email us your stories as well in advance of the event and we will make sure to share them.
Alan Buchanan was born and raised in Belfast, Prince Edward Island. He has had a varied career, but lately has become best known as a storyteller. His career on-stage began with the production, Belfast People, in the 1980’s. Since then, he has been a member of the award-winning group, Hedgerow, and has also been featured on local, regional, and national radio broadcasts, including the popular CBC comedy show “Madly Off in all Directions”. Several summers ago, he was a member of the cast of Story which played to sold-out audiences at the Guild in Charlottetown, and for the past two summers he has been a part of the fabulously popular Four Tellers at the King’s Playhouse in Georgetown. His hilarious stories centre on the colourful characters and cultural quirks he observed growing up in a rural community.
Following the lectures, refreshments will be served. We welcome our audience to also take the time to visit our large collection of archives and heritage photos at the community centre. If you have any questions about the lectures, please contact Vivian at vivian@eastlink.ca.