Archive

Dan Plunkett introduced guest speaker Juliet Dunn as an excellent singer, musician, organizer, and a good friend. Juliet, along with husband Peter Shea, was the founder of the TD Niagara Jazz Festival which has experienced amazing growth during its relatively brief history but is facing new challenges now in the light of the COVID-19 epidemic. The festival was honoured as […]

Doctoral study exams role of comics in learning Dan Plunkett introduced guest speaker Zachary Rondinelli, a Niagara Falls native, who is a PhD student in Educational Studies at Brock University. Zach’s presentation and his research involves “Documenting Transactional Experiences with the Little Nemo comic strips.” Zach, who earned his master’s degree at Brock but also studied at Western and spent […]

Online newspaper offers positive take on Niagara Duncan McLaren introduced guest speaker Kevin Vallier the founder and editor in chief of The Niagara Independent, an online newspaper which is distributed to subscribers twice a week. Kevin, a native of Sarnia who graduated from Brock University in Human Relations, spent about 20 years in public relations working with the St. Catharines […]

Group aims to reduce work, stress of moving for seniors The owner of ‘Seniors on the Move’ joined our online meeting via telephone to talk about the services her company provides and to offer some tips for decluttering our lives. She retired after spending 20 years with the Niagara Regional Police, got the inspiration for her new career after reading […]

Veteran of Bosnian conflict continues battle with PTSD Duncan McLaren introduced guest speaker Master Corporal (Ret’d) Steve Mercer who joined the Canadian Forces in September of 1990. Steve joined his regiment in April of 1991 after completing basic training. He was trained as an armoured vehicle driver with B squadron of Royal Canadian Dragoons and was part of an 850-person […]

Complex details in collision reconstruction unveiled Frank Parkhouse introduced guest speaker Detective Sergeant Matthew Whiteley, officer in charge of the collision reconstruction unit for Niagara Regional Police. Detective Whitely gave an interesting talk on the science of investigations of traffic incidents. The collision reconstruction unit investigates all fatal and life-threatening injury accidents, all departmental collisions, and all hit-and-run incidents The […]

Alliance working to secure site for a public art gallery Duncan McLaren introduced guest speaker Jean Bridge, a recent retiree from Brock University where she was an associate professor of Visual Arts. Duncan said that Jean is a community builder and a key member of the Rodman Hall Alliance. The alliance is leading the push to secure a public art […]

Guest speaker Suzanne Soto-Davies, publisher of Silver and Gold Magazine for Boomers Plus, has also developed a WISH (What If Something Happens) workbook. Suzanne, who was born in Peru and came to Canada when she was 15, said that her grandparents gave her the idea for the magazine which is published and distributed in southwestern Ontario four times a year […]

Wendy Sturgeon, the Executive Director of the Niagara Chapter, Native Women Inc., based in Fort Erie presented to us this month. Wendy, who was born in Toronto, is of Anishinaabe (Ojibway-Chippewa of the Thames or Muncee) and Welsh decent. She explained that her father came from a residential school and lost the connection with his heritage and now has no […]

Stewart Campbell, who lives in Helensburgh on the west coast of Scotland, is our first international speaker joining us through the technology provided by Zoom. Stewart was in charge of Health and Safety during construction of the English Channel Tunnel which was officially opened in 1994. He pointed out that the idea of a tunnel linking Great Britain and the […]

Adrian Petry, visitor coordinator at the St. Catharines Museum, presented to us on the topic: “Open for business – the Welland Canal in 1830”. Adrian explained that in the history of the Welland Canal the first canal is often overlooked. It was built between 1824 and 1829 prior to photography and few written records were kept with the result that […]

Marieke E. Schmidt, Professor of Earth Sciences at Brock University. Marieke has been involved in the study of Mars since 2005 and has been selected by NASA to be a participating scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory working with the rover exploration missions. Marieke said that the big question about Mars remains whether it is habitable. She said that Mars […]