This year it was held at St Cuthbert's Church Hall and was only slightly marred by the lack of a microphone for the first hour of the session, so the poor speaker had to talk at the top of her voice to try to be heard.
Christine Herlihy spoke to us about the Yukon, which is her 'home town'. She described to us it's beauty and the community spirit and empathy for fellow man that exists in that area.
Next we had Rachel Killick & Andrew Bailey discussing "Canada in Ten Slides" (which actually turned out to be about 14 slides. The covered it's history from the European perspective after being 'discovered' by the French and the English - and the relationships that evolved thereafter. We also learned about the birth of the WI (in Canada, of course).
Lunch was then served! We had poached salmon with vegetables and new potatoes, followed by apple crumble with cream. Delicious!!! :oD
After lunch, we had Laura Napran (another Canadian) with a fascinating discussion about "Native People - Their History & Culture". So we heard about the birth of Canada from the people who REALLY discovered it - the natives, who then either stayed in the north (Canada) or moved further south and became the native American Indians. We heard of their hardships and trials, against both the elements and the discoverers from other countries. Fascinating!!
We finally had Patrick McGonville (see him seated next to Christine Herlihy in the first photo above), who regaled us with "The Cremation of Sam McGee". He was so entertaining as he acted out the shivering and pulling his collar around him against the cold, his voice shivering - a wonderful performance. You, too, can experience the wonder of "The Cremation of Sam McGee" as performed by Johnny Cash below (don't tell Johnny, but Patrick was much better!) ;oP
http://youtu.be/yJNZwuamwj0
