Just in time for gardening in 2020

Rob Galey of Galey Farms was our speaker in November. His talk was interesting and informative about the farm that I think most of us are aware of and are often customers. I hope that you watch and enjoy. The direct link to the video on You Tube is at https://youtu.be/LdoIP58TCa0 or you can see it via our blog at  https://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.com/

My best wishes to all for a Happy and Fulfilling New Year.

Daryl.

What's new.....

What’s new on our blog since June 2019

 

Three talks have been given and recorded and you can view them at the links below.

 

Links are also below for updates and new additions.

 

David Genn               https://youtu.be/nbimvYX6Xgk

 

Sergei Gibson            https://youtu.be/tjkCB9Nvcw4   Mr. Gibson is a member of the Gibson

family that for years took our class photos.

 

Vivian (Underwood) Hermsen         https://youtu.be/6vOrofY0JrQ

 

Photos of the gathering at Enid Bull’s home in August 2019    http://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.com/p/photos-student-reunions.html

 

Unfortunately several obituaries have been added         http://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.com/p/obituaries.html

 

A video on Saanich History and Heritage        https://youtu.be/UHXeemqObGg

 

Class photos have been added to our collection which now contains about 275 images.

Gary Cunningham speaks again.

Gary picks up where he left off in Part 1 of his Oral History video.  I think that you will enjoy watching and find it entertaining. The direct link to Youtube is     https://youtu.be/-sILOrZuRSs            or you can view it via the link on our blog oral history page. 

November's Oral History

Heather Davies packed a lot of information into into a quick presentation at our November meeting.
I hope that you will watch and enjoy and listen for names, places and events that you recognize.

This is the direct link to the video on YouTube and as always the link is also on the oral history page of the Royal Oak School Yard Blog.      https://youtu.be/qeTj9B0ruD0

Double feature

Nights are getting longer so it is probably a good time to settle down to a great double feature. We have oral history videos by Millie Jacobs at  https://youtu.be/pD7NHLPor2U
and by Diana Ball     at    https://youtu.be/UVUtrnhjuBk

As always, both are interesting to watch and bring their own slant to growing up in and around Royal Oak.

Millie, who was 98 years old when she recorded her video died shortly after.  We offer our sympathies to her family.    

Good news for our old school

Marson and Quayle to Moore

Quayle and Marson are two names that most people who lived in or around Royal Oak will know..
In this video Dianne (Quayle) Moore, the daughter of Alf and Loraine (Marson) Quayle talks about her family and her time growing up in Royal Oak. Their home was the first house past the Thatch/Maltwoods. Trivia question?  Did any of our speakers live closer to the center of Royal Oak, the corner of East and West Saanich Roads than Dianne? I can think of one family that lived closer and one that would probably be in a tie but they have not yet been speakers.

The link to Dianne's very interesting and entertaining talk is on the oral history page of our Blog, and the direct link to YouTube is below.

https://youtu.be/jDRCVMwZ3Sg

We have had more than 48,500 visits to our Blog. Must be some interesting things there. Have you visited lately?

New oral history videos

I got a bit behind so you are getting three new oral history videos at once.

From March....
#55 Telling stories after school
Audio/video by Keith Cameron
https://youtu.be/gV0kC7UGhbg

From April....
#56 Telling stories after school
Audio/video by Sharlie Chatterton
https://youtu.be/d9QzG85t_Kg

From May.....
#57 Telling stories after school
Audio/video by M. A. C. (Marion) Farrant

https://youtu.be/XE1_dgvkWME

These are the direct links to You Tube.  You will also find the links on the Oral History page of this blog.

Have you seen this house?

One of the highlights of David Squance's January talk was about the time the family owned Norfolk Lodge, a home that I am sure most of you have seen many times, but perhaps did not know it by that name. If you were not there to hear the original presentation I hope that you will have a look.  Another great addition to our growing collection of oral history videos connected to the greater Royal Oak area.

We all, I think,  sometimes sit around with friends and family and talk about the good old days. I would sure like to be around 50 or a hundred years from now to watch these videos again and reflect on those good old days.

You will find it at this link and of course it is posted on our blog.  https://youtu.be/hZlFSb8BfRw     

November talk.

Novembers talk was by Frank Copley of Copley Brothers. I would think that most would remember the name even if they did not know the family. Frank gave an entertaining talk and you may watch the video at  https://youtu.be/EKVSQDyzdUQ  on You Tube or from the oral history pages on our blog at  https://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/

     
We have been given some photos of Mrs. Hobbs art classes that so many of us went to. You can view them at   https://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/p/photos-students-teachers-from-royal-oak.html

Maybe you can identify some of the students. I certainly could not.

Wishing you the best for the New Year.

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.

Good news & bad news.

Bad news first.........

I am very sorry to tell you that another classmate from the 1953 Graduating class has passed away. Yateve (Swift) Herman's obituary can be read at
http://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/p/obituaries.html

Also, you may not have been able to locate John Green's obituary. It has been re-posted at the same link. My apologies.

The good news is........ Barbara Handysides' fun and informative talk from October is now available for you to view on You tube at
 https://youtu.be/PodrQDXAmcw

Links to all the Oral History videos can be found at
http://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/p/oral-histories-audiovideo-telling.html

In Sympathy

I regret to inform you that I have added the names of Valerie (Bate) Abramson and Donald Douglas to the obituary page.

Our most sincere sympathy to their families.

See what's new.

I have just added Dave Tribe’s September oral history video about his days growing up in Royal Oak to our website. This is another great addition to our archive of personal recollections about all the mostly good times spent in Royal Oak and the people and places in the area. The direct link is https://youtu.be/v-UBzS6DSCo      You will also find the link on the blogsite’s oral history page.

Dave’s humorous and personal talk joins those given by Morgan (Scott) Ostler, Grant Sheldrake, Peter Goddard, Lisle (Layritz) Jakeman, Gary Cunningham, Peter Thomas, Katherine Whitworth, Ron Burnham, Elsie (Dudman) Laird, Jack Mather, Fred Green, Norma (Carmichael) Sealy, Phyllis (Rodgers) Fatt, Lewis Burden, Paul Taylor, Susan Doyle-Lawrence, Daryl Foster, Carol (Bleathman) Wright, Vicky Sanders, John Lucas, Richard Pearce, Marguerite Gayfer, Ray Travers, Grace (Sinclair) Nickels, Bruce McMorran, Arnold Goyatte, Lorraine (Hilton) McCloy, Grant MacDonald, Doug Rose, Don Fish, Norm Pimlott with Colleen Pimlott-Marsel, Shirley (Waters) Hunt, Doug Gait, the ladies of the Colquitz Telephone Exchange, Dorothy (Ochs) Varley, Joann (Wootten) Halsall, Jack Burdge, Cairine (Ash) Green, Pat (Lock) Coates, Barry Hall, Bud French, Gertie (Campbell) Wilson and Enid (Cuthbert) Bull. 

And by the way, if you are looking for some new recipes go to  http://royaloakschoolyard.blogspot.ca/p/publications-books-and-links-etc-etc.html       and have a look at a Royal Oak Elementary School cookbook from 1965 that was a gift to Barbara Handysides from her brother when he was in Grade 5.