The Burford Township Historical Society will be hosting an Open House at the Harley Museum this Saturday, February 25th, 2012, from 11 am to 3 pm.

Harley is the name of the little hamlet just to the west of Burford (which makes it part of our Brant County family).

This is not a motorcycle museum by the way. 

Come and hear why the local residents are still miffed at the Americans for their dirty deeds during the War of 1812…. 

Also learn about the Battle of Malcolm’s Mills and more. 

Information and directions can be found at http://www.burford.on.ca/bths-location-map.htm

The BTHS was founded in 1986, and one of its founding members, Clayton Barker, will be on hand to answer questions and explain the significance of items in the Museum’s collection.

February 20, 2012

12:30 pm until 4:00 pm

At Westfield Heritage Village

1049 Kirkwall Road , Rockton Ontario

“LOONIE” FAMILY DAY!

2012 marks the 100th anniversary for the St. George Fire Department.  Members of the current force have been researching the history and preparing for events in the coming year to mark the anniversary.

Paul McConkey has compiled a brief (and nicely illustrated) history of firefighting in St. George that is available through the County of Brant Public Library website – or by clicking the link: http://images.ourontario.ca/brant/228/Exhibit/1

Paul adapted and updated the history compiled by Gilbert F. Mannen (which is available in the local history collection at the St. George library).

If you have photographs, artifacts or memories related to the history of firefighting in St. George and South Dumfries which you would be prepared to share, please contact the St. George Museum and Archives at 32 Main Street South (519-448-3265) or contact Paul McConkey at the St. George Fire Station, 72 Main Street North, St. George, Ontario N0E 1N0.



From the County of Brant Public Library Digital Collection http://www.brant.library.on.ca/

February 6th: Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne after the death of her father, King George VI in 1952, at the age of 25. Her coronation followed on June 2, 1953.

There will be events across Canada to mark this anniversary and the St. George Museum and Archives would like to contribute as well – by collecting up royal stories from the South Dumfries area.

At the last meeting of the Brant Heritage Committee, Mayor Ron Eddy recalled going over to a neighbour’s house to watch the Coronation on television.  This was the first televised Coronation – and there were not many television sets in all of Canada at the time.

If you have royal memories – either of the young princess Elizabeth or of her reign as the Queen – we would be pleased to help record and share them as part of a display and one of our public meetings.

As well, if you have ideas of how we should help commemmorate the Diamond Jubilee, please let us know as well.  Should we serve tea?  Should we have some corgis on hand?

The South Dumfries Historical Society, Box 472, St. George, Ontario N0E 1N0 – or phone us at (519) 448-1053.

Here is a link to the Heritage Canada website for more information on how our country is joining international celebrations of the anniversary:

http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1296669421850

 

Mayor Ron Eddy has donated to the St. George Museum and Archives a wonderfully restored plough from the B. Bell & Sons Foundry in St. George.  There is a great story behind this plough and how it came to be in the mayor’s hands – and he will tell that when the plough is formally unveiled at our Annual General Meeting.  In the meantime, you can get a sneak peek at the plough Saturdays from 11 am to 2 pm.

(Photo by Cliff Jones, Jr.)

“Robert Nixon: Ontario’s First Political Family” – was one of the topics on the January 31st, 2012 edition of TVO’s popular show, The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

Politics in the family: The Nixon family represents one of Ontario’s true political families. In 1962, Robert Nixon was elected to the Ontario Legislature, a position to which he has been re-elected three times. Robert Nixon sits down with Steve Paikin to reflect on his – and his family’s – political life.

For those who missed the approximately 11 minute segment, it is available to watch or download on the TVO website; and it is also available as a free downloadable podcast (in either audio only or video formats) at iTunes (search for The Agenda under podcasts).

At Brant County Council last week, two outstanding supporters of local history were presented with awards from the province.  Marion Sheridan received a lifetime achievement award and our own Cliff Jones, Jr. was awarded for his heritage contributions.  The awards are coordinated by the Ontario Heritage Trust Foundation and Marion and Cliff were nominated for the awards by the County upon the recommendation of the Brant Heritage Committee.

They were congratulated by Mayor Ron Eddy and also received certificates from our Member of Provincial Parliament, Dave Levac.  Many members of the local heritage community were on hand to congratulate Marion and Cliff.  Look for a feature article on them coming soon in the Brantford Expositor.  (Reporters were also on hand from the St. George Lance and the Brant News).

Christine MacArthur, from the County of Brant Public Library, has been kind enough to post photos from the launch event for our Digital Collection on the Library’s Flickr webpage: www.flickr.com/brantlibrary

Thank you to everyone who attended – and to those who supported the project by donation items and images to be scanned and photographed.

Christine gave everyone in attendance a tour of what the collection can do – including searches that are fuzzy, fuzzier and fuzziest!

All the work that went into cataloguing each image adds greatly to the usefulness of the collection to researchers and students of local history.

As you will see in the photos, our MPP Dave Levac was on hand to bring greetings along with Mayor Eddy on behalf of the County and Karen Richardson, a past curatar of the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead, was on hand to bring greetings from our benefactor, the Trillium Foundation.

You can tour the collection yourself by following the link from the library website or by going to:

http://images.ourontario.ca/brant/search

Enjoy!