Archive

William Hamilton Merritt was a man of many talents Our guest speaker David Merritt appeared in costume as his ancestor William Hamilton Merritt who, as a soldier, merchant, promoter and politician, played an important role in the history of Niagara and especially in the development of the Welland Canal. William, the son of Thomas Merritt, was born in 1793 in […]

High-rise towers haven’t always enjoyed universal acceptance Bob Henderson introduced his long-time friend and Brock University colleague Hugh Gayler whose presentation at the March meeting was entitled The Sky-scraper and high-rise living in the western city. Hugh pointed out that the sky-scraper is not necessarily a modern invention with the pyramids and medieval towers in Italy being very early versions. […]

Osteoporosis is a disease that affects men as well as women Emil Knebel introduced guest speaker Chris Esposito who has had an extensive background in volunteer work and has spent 10 years working with Osteoporosis Canada in Niagara. Chris said that she was pleased to be able to speak to a group of men because osteoporosis is so often considered […]

Festival brings world-class jazz musicians to Niagara Dan Plunkett introduced guest speaker Juliet Dunn who is Executive Director, Artistic Producer and co-creator of the TD Niagara Jazz Festival. Juliet, who has an impressive musical career in her own right, gave an informative and lively talk about the non-profit organization and the more than 50 shows and events which it stages […]

Young explorer recounts trip across Canada’s Arctic Adam Shoalts, a native of Fenwick, who graduated from Brock and received a PhD from McMaster University, has undertaken a number of expeditions for Canadian Geographic. Adam talked specifically about two books that he has written. The first, titled Alone Against the North, recounts his amazing solo 4,000-kilometre journey across Canada’s Arctic and […]

Andy Redman introduced July’s guest speaker, Danny Lamb, saying that he had known Danny from the time he was born and surprised Danny by presenting him with a couple photographs taken when he was an infant. Danny’s talk was on the Power of Music in my Life and he began his presentation by performing a song he wrote called “Champion”. […]

Speakers offer photographic journey to Machu Picchu Wayne Tester introduced his daughter Lynn Miller and her husband Jim and provided some background for the presentation on their trip to Peru and Machu Picchu. Lynn and Jim took the pictures during their trip in 2015 while Wayne did the editing and composing of the program match-ing pictures with the pan flute […]

Cancer researchers seek solutions to hundreds of different mutations Don Walker introduced the guest speaker, his son-in-law, Dr. Michael Olson, who is a professor at Ryerson University in the Department of Chemistry and Biology. Michael is a graduate of the University of Alberta, where he got a Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics. He then went to the University of […]

Beaverdams church restoration a lengthy and costly project Bob Halfyard introduced guest speaker David Cowan, a well-known organist in Niagara, who was appearing in his role as President of the Friends of Beaverdams Church. David, a native of Thorold, illustrated his talk about the historic church with pictures showing various stages of the restoration work done over the past seven […]

Brian Narhi provides tips for tracing family roots. Duncan McLaren introduced Brian Narhi of St Catharines who chairs the St. Catharines heritage advisory committee and is a historian for Toronto based Archeological Services Inc. Brian has been awarded a Lieutenant-Governor’s Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement. Brian began his presentation with an introduction to genealogy 101 stressing the importance of starting […]