Regional Reports - March '12

BC

Recently, Bev Campbell took her Dad, Gerry Gerrard to see an old comrade of his in White Rock. Gerry and Wally Normand had a great visit and had lots to talk about. They are the last surviving members of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and they spent the last few years of WWII in the same POW camp in Japan.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Richard (Dick) Johnson (WG) on Jan. 23/12. Dick was a true gentleman who always put others first and he will be missed. There are currently 6 surviving HK vets in the BC region.

We are planning our regional spring membership meetings and luncheons in Vancouver and Victoria. We have not set a date in June yet for the Victoria gathering although we hope to have one before the national newsletter is distributed. The Vancouver date is set for June 23. Linda Quesnel has graciously agreed to host the Victoria luncheon and Lee and Murray will co-host in Vancouver. We will be sending all the particulars in a mail out to our members in April.

The mail out will also include the necessary information to hold a regional election for executive positions in BC this year. We hope to have elections completed by the summer.

We have lost contact with Marje Stewart, one of our widows, whose last known address was in Victoria. If anyone can help us with her whereabouts we would be grateful.

Lee and Graeme Stacey remain in contact regarding possible education opportunities and they are always looking to improve on their very effective approach to educating the public and students in particular. Our region’s education material and display continue to expand.

Submitted by Murray Doull on behalf of the BC region.

Manitoba

There aren’t a lot of brand new items to report on this beautiful "Spring" day but the usual people continue to work on our long term projects both in committee and on their own.

We are still examining how we might best approach the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to include the Battle of Hong Kong and its repercussions in their exhibits and we will have a meeting of our HR committee on March 21. A proper strategy is critical to success in this venture and that calls for quite a bit of debate. Our group remains keen to see our soldiers recognized in what is anticipated to be a remarkable museum.

And of course we have the National Convention on our plate and that committee will be meeting on March 24. Some good ideas for activities and venues have come forward so we will likely have lots to talk about.

This is the first year that we will not have the traditional Reunion Banquet in October but the HKVCA members still want to get together in some fashion. We are looking at an annual meeting as part of a social gathering, something which I believe other Regions have each year. The location for such an event is still in question as we want to move from the Holiday Inn where we have been for many years.

The Winnipeg Grenadiers Cadet Corps recently had its Annual Inspection, with 23 cadets in attendance. We are gratified that the Winnipeg Grenadiers continue to be represented in the cadet organization.

The Manitoba Region has an ongoing program to examine the feasibility of erecting a monument dedicated to the Grenadiers in ‘C’ Force and new concepts have been presented recently. I guess we are working in parallel with the Atlantic Region but I don’t see any conflict at this point. We may both be applying to the same federal grant program but hopefully that’s not a problem.

Coming up are the MB Region elections and the Ladies Tea will be held once again on April 21.

Best wishes from the Manitoba Region.

Barry Mitchell

Ontario

Susan MacDonell, George's daughter, ran a successful seminar in February at the Toronto District School Board. This was Sue's first time doing this for the HKVCA, and we're happy to have a new face in front of the teachers! She was ably assisted by Linda Guglick and Sandra Strom, who put together an excellent display to accompany the seminar. Feedback from the teachers was very positive.

Pat Turcotte has sent out about 450 letters to educators across Canada to remind them of the impending deadline for our Cross Canada Writing Contest (May 25). Hopefully this will spur teachers and students to prepare and make their submissions.

Mitzi Ross is busy organizing an HKVCA luncheon in Ottawa for early April for her Northeast area members.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
Regional Director, Ontario

Quebec

We recently held our first executive meeting for 2012. Year End Reports were read for 2011 and accepted.

Many subjects and previous suggestions were discussed and some decisions were made, others soon to come.

For the last 2 years on many occasions the committee discussed the future of Quebec Region Reunions. Other locations and date changes were tried and did not measure to our expectations due to the very low participation of our members. One sad and hard to make decision was taken to discontinue our Regional Reunions in it’s present form.

It is proposed to organize local gatherings and visits in areas where we could get the largest number of local veterans, widows and even family members.

We realize that when long travels and moving about gets to be more of a chore than a pleasure, it is time to make some changes.

Will keep you posted of dates and places of these gatherings.

We just completed a mailing of our "Call for Elections" , the newsletter "The Torch" with it’s local news and a last "Call for 2012 Membership Renewals" was also included. Pending on the result will make our telephone calls to the remaining delinquents with great hopes.

We have lost contact with HKV Bernard M. Thompson, last known address 715 des Spirées, Ste-Dorothée QC, Widow Florence Hawke, #6 205 Davignon Blvd, Cowansville QC and Regular member Sheila Coull, #2 153 Chemin Cyr, New Richmond QC. If anyone knows anything on these members, any info would be greatly appreciated.

For the upcoming national newsletter, we will be having a survey for RRC Nominal Rolls and notice to purchase 2011 Convention souvenirs.

That is it at this time,

Lucette

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Regional Reports - February '12

BC

Ab/Sask

Manitoba

Things have been pretty quiet within the Manitoba Region what with some illness and a lot of travel my members.

Many of us were part of a very large group (almost 200) that attended the funeral of Grant Shepherd. Grant was with the British Royal Navy in Hong Kong but was imprisoned along with the rest of our guys. He was most popular and was an honourary member of the HKVA as well as the Commemorative Association.

Work continues in the preparation of a suitable presentation to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Having been rejected once, we are trying to put our case forward that will meet the criteria of the museum and may call upon professors at the University of Manitoba to help us with our definitions and interpretation of the guidlines.

Consideration is being given to building a memorial of some kind to the Winnipeg Grenadiers, to be erected in the military section of Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg. An initial concept drawing has been put forward and more are anticipated. This will be a long term project.

Our committee responsible for the preparation of the National Convention 2013 continues to work on many of the details and we have so far confirmed the hotel and the venue for one of the evenings. Lots of time remains but we hope to continually put all the pieces together.

Membership continues to be a challenge although we are close to maintaining our numbers in recent years. However, dues a very slow in coming in and hopefully that isn’t a sign of diminishing interest. There is no doubt that we need to stir things up a little in our membership as a whole and that is a challenge for all of us.

Barry Mitchell

Ontario

Several Hong Kong Veterans, including some from Ontario, have been contacted by a TV production company creating a documentary for the History Channel. They are in the process of being interviewed. I'm not sure of the timing of the release of the documentary.

The ALPHA group (Association for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia) is planning their 2012 study tour to Asia. This is an annual ALPHA event, to which they invite educators from across North America. Participants travel to Asia and visit museums and meet with survivors of WW II. This year's group will travel to Hong Kong, Korea and several locations in China. While in Hong Kong they will visit Stanley and Sai Wan Cemeteries, and the new museum recently dedicated at St Stephen's College.

Pat Turcotte has followed up with all the provinces and territories by email to remind them of the May deadline for submissions in our Writing Contest.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
 

Quebec

Atlantic