2018 Speakers

CARP offers many benefits to aging but active retirees to aging but active retirees John Maguerian, president of the Niagara Chapter of CARP or the Canadian Association of Retired Persons was our speaker this month. He advised that that CARP, which he suggested should stand for Canadian Association of Rejuvenated Persons, got its start in1984, being modeled after the AARP...

Boer War in South Africa was Canada’s first foreign conflict In keeping with the Remembrance theme of the November meeting, guest speaker Kathleen Powell spoke about Canada’s role in the Boer War of 1899-1902 which was Canada’s first foreign war. Kathleen is the Curator at the St. Catharines Museum and supervisor of historical services. She has a B.A. from Brock University...

Our guest speaker this month was author Cheryl Cooper who talked about her writing background and some of the fascinating information she has uncovered while researching her books in a presentation titled: “1812: The Age of Sail”. Cheryl, who was born in Toronto and now lives in Bracebridge, said that she was drawn to writing as early as Grade 4...

Carla Mackie Allan Veale Morningstar Mill history dates back to the 1800’s Carla Mackie and Allan Veale presented an interesting history of the Morningstar Mill and the Morningstar family. The Morningstar Mill is a rural industrial heritage site owned by the City of St. Catharines and operated in partnership with the Friends of Morningstar Mill. The site features a working...

Adrian Petry Our speaker this month was Adrian Petry, the visitor services coordinator at the St. Catharines Museum, who spoke about Lost and Historic Architecture in St. Catharines. Adrian started off by giving plugs for a couple special events including guided canal walks and also guided spirit walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery. These historical and theatrical walks tell the story...

Speaker offers look inside world of medical cannabis Guest speaker Michelle Davis, a community engagement specialist with Tweed, Canada’s largest producer of cannabis headquartered in Smiths Falls spoke to us this month on this topic. Michelle said that Tweed, which was licensed by Health Canada in 2014 to grow medical cannabis, has many grow sites across Canada including in Niagara-on-the-Lake and...

Pets at Peace provides services for pets and owners Julie Proulx, a graduate of Nipissing University with a BA in Psychology, who later studied funeral service education at Humber College and evolved into a funeral director for pets spoke to us this month on this topic.. Julie, who at one point returned to Humber to teach the Funeral Service Education program...

Welland Canal mapping project helps bring historic canals to life! Guest speaker Colleen Beard, Map Librarian and Head, Data & GIS Library of the James Gibson Library at Brock University spoke about the Historic Welland Canals Mapping Project. Contemporary technologies for data capture and mapping have revolutionized the way information can be collected and shared. Colleen has been applying these technologies...

Young adventurer describes his journey to Amazon rain forest Tim Kaye introduced guest speaker Owen Bjorgan, who grew up in Queenston, graduated with a BSc in Biodiversity from the University of Guelph and has turned a life-long fascination with nature into an amazing career all by the age of 25. Owen’s presentation was titled Hidden Corners: East An-des, Ecuador and detailed...

Habitat for Humanity program has helped millions to better life Sandy Rempel, the family services manager for Habitat for Humanity in Niagara, gave a brief history of Habitat for Humanity explaining that the concept of partnership housing was started by Millard and Linda Fuller in Georgia. In 1973, they took their Fund for Humanity concept to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of...

Respect, dignity, education key in dealing with dementia Our guest speaker was Judith Fraser, a volunteer in public education with the Alzheimer Society of Niagara. Judith pointed out that Dementia Friends Canada is part of an international movement with the goal of improving respect and dignity for sufferers of dementia while educating the population to dispel myths and reduce the stigma...

Young musicians face many obstacles on road to success John Senn introduced club member Dan Plunkett (left above), who was accompanied by Steve Kostyk (right above), in speaking about the music industry and the difficulty young musicians face to trying to get their careers off the ground. Dan, long involved in music from his early days in Kingston, turned to promoting...