Clyde River Lecture: Home from Boston, Feb. 18, 1:30 p.m.
This Saturday is our third and final 2017 History Lecture and you won’t want to miss it. It takes a good dose of humour to get through an Island winter and Alan knows just how to make us laugh.
Inevitably a photo with the Boston relatives over by the car. John Darrach, happy to have his son John with wife Beatrice and children Mary and Ted home from Boston.
Excerpt from Mary Ann Darrach’s letter to her son John and his wife Beatrice in Boston – 1907.
This is Tuesday. Yesterday, we had a blinding snowstorm, the worst this winter, but today it is fine.
The boys are going to town with loads. The snow was about gone before this snow came, so there is not much sign of Spring here now. We are all fairly well. Hope these lines will find you all the same. Tell me when you are coming home.
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.
All are welcome to attend. Following the lectures, refreshments will be served. We invite you to take along any memorabilia or photos related to the topics. Tables will be set out to display your items. 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.