We've been working on the railroad.

Well not all of us. Just Richard Pearce, Ron Burnham, Bryan Polson and Peter Goddard who have put together a video about the three railroads that used to run up and down the Saanich Peninsula. Some personal recollections, some historical facts and some things you may not have known plus lots of photos. Although I don't think that any of you were alive when any of these railroads were operating, except for a short spur line running to Borden's Mercantile, I'm reasonably sure that all of you have seen and heard small bits of information about their existence and the role they played in our history. Enid says to be sure to watch for my spelling mistake! (Fixed on the archive version)

Direct link to YouTube          https://youtu.be/Ibg8kpL1K2Y

Link to Oral Histories at our blog    https://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/p/oral-histories-audiovideo-telling.html

This is great

Joy Scott, formerly Joy Mahon from Mann Avenue tells some interesting stories about her life including what it is like to be a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Shanghai during WW11.  This is one you will want to watch.  Direct link to You Tube  is     https://youtu.be/LiHx8h9NDk0

Oral History Videos

If you were not at all of our meetings here are two of the videoed talks you might have missed.  One by Audrey Coutts (MacDonald) and the other by Bob Pederson and both very interesting. I hope you will watch them and perhaps leave a comment. Here are the direct links to You Tube. As usual the links to these and all our videos are also on our blog site.

Audrey    https://youtu.be/MRVoz2ebWpE

Bob Pederson   https://youtu.be/MHJGM6VK_F4

Our blog      http://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/

The Minter family

If you lived near Elk Lake in the late 1940's or 1950's the name Minter is likely familiar to you.  Our speaker in March was Joan (Minter) Smirl and I have just posted the resulting video to our blog site. It contains a great deal of interesting material about the family and the area.
The direct link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Vg5dNQDDQ   and as you know you can find it and all the oral history videos on the oral history page of the blog.  Happy May.

Two new videos.

Two new videos have just been added to our blog.

The first is...."Royal Oak Memories"  Part 2  

This is an audio/video introduction and preview to our oral history project.It continues from where Royal Oak Memories Part 1 left off. It is a collection of short entertaining clips from our Oral Histories from June 2014 to June 2016.
https://youtu.be/CA6jZorm9e8 

The second is.....Saanich Remembers WW 1

This video is of a talk given on January 25, 2017 at the Saanich
Municipal hall about the Saanich Archives' "Saanich Remembers
WW 1 project. This project is to commemorate WW 1 and in particular
Saanich residents who fought in that war. The story takes some interesting
turns.

 https://youtu.be/DzcyDaPzPD8

#1 for 2017.

2017.....It is hard to believe that we are starting this group's 5th year and still having fun.

The talk by John Whittaker in January is now a video that you may watch at this link    https://youtu.be/ySWHtNcCyDw     or by going to the link on the oral history page.

This informative and entertaining talk will be particularly interesting to those who lived or spent time in Cordova Bay in the '40's and '50's.

Enjoy.

Ending 2016 on a High Note.

In November Enid Bull and Heather Smith went to the home of George Lohr to record some of his memories after living almost 90 years at Prospect Lake. Mr. Lohr's son Steve Lohr was also present and he added much to the story from the "next generation" point of view.

The direct link to the video is    https://youtu.be/_7a3cBkJCjM_    and as always available on the Oral History page.