April 3rd, 2018

So much for a weekly blog!  Just so much going on in this area, and of course, I have to be in the thick of it!

Much of my time is taken up with the Newcastle Village and District Historical Society.  We have a very vibrant board the last couple of years, and there's always something happening  and I just have to jump right in the middle of it!  I will give them a plug... April 10th is Speaker Night (there's another Speaker Night in October, too, but I'll tell you about that closer to the date).  This spring we will welcome Peter Klose, best known in these parts for his Jungle Cat World.  Down through the years Peter was also a member of the Abandon Cemeteries Board, and through that association became aware of a grave stone on the side of the 115 Hwy at Newcastle.  It is the grave of Lovel and Aurilla Beach, shown here in the photo.  As you can see, they were early settlers, both dying prior to official census - Lovel in 1828 and Aurilla in 1833.

No one seems to know who they were, and it has been like that for many long decades - in fact, nearly two centuries.

Peter Klose decided to find out about them, and after two years of research has come up with their story, which he will present on April 10th.

If any of my readers are close enough to attend this meeting, it is FREE (always nice to find!) and will be held in the Centennial Room at the Newcastle Community Hall (downstairs) - at the four corners of Newcastle Village (for all you out-of-towners who will be attending.)  There is free parking and we will have refreshments.

On another note, I have been kept busy with helping design an upcoming event with A Gift of Art, the local art gallery/studio at Newcastle.  We have obtained a grant to present a program we are calling "The Living Stories Project".  This will be a joint creative venture between seniors and youth to bring stories, memories and experiences to life through the use of multi-media, so says the brochure I designed for the event.  I will be conducting a memoire writing class for eight weeks, helping young and old alike to put to paper, or voice recording, their memories of times gone by; their memories of the people they've met along the way; and of course their memories of immigrating here from a far away place and what they experienced at that time, and what they felt at that time.  These stories and memories will be taken and plays or improv presented, and hopefully some video's made.  If anyone wishes to have their memories put down on paper into a booklet and published, that too is a possibility.  This will be a year-long undertaking with Phase 1 - the memoire writing to begin this month, April 17th.  If you are interested, please call The Gift of Art.

In between these two endeavours, I'm entering a competition being hosted by Mary Maxim, the yarn folks at Paris, Ontario.  There are four classes but I'm entering only one - for some reason there just isn't time to do enough crocheting to enter all four!! -   I am making a crocheted afghan - The City of Ottawa Tartan.  It is a lovely beige tartan with a bit of brown, a bit of white, a bit of blue and a bit of red - here's the woven version, but of course, my crocheted version is just a little different....  I can't show you what my version looks like - it's not done yet.  I'll photograph it and show you what it's like in a week or two.

One last undertaking - a new book!  Yep!  I considered retirement...but only for a brief moment.  Over the years, each time I have written something other than a history book, I've put it away in the proverbial writers' bottom drawer and that is where quite a collection of work has lived for some long time now.  And so, after much deliberation, I am taking these works out of the bottom drawer, dusting them off, and compiling them into a book I'm calling "Longs and Shorts".

I don't mind tooting my own horn here, but as I transcribe these stories into a manuscript, I have decided that I am a good writer - or at least I was when these were all written.  I have amazed myself, actually.  I never knew I was that talented!  But this is my own opinion.  I guess I will have to await the opinion of others.  Not long now, though.  I'm transcribing the last story, but it's the looonnnggg one and I'm not half way through it.  I can hardly wait to see what happens in it!

I took out my trusty lap-top the other evening - yes, I took a whole evening away from my crochet work - and put a few hours into my novel - re-wrote the first 28 pages - hopefully I will be able to get back to it one of these days - it's been on again, off again with this thing since 2014.  It'll happen, it'll happen, believe me, but not anytime soon me thinks!  I dream about the characters every night - can't get them out of my mind - but that's a good thing - as long as they are embedded there I will be able to finish the book - as soon as I lose sight of them I'm doomed.

Ok!  ok!  One last item.... this coming weekend is the Annual Spring Home and Garden Show here in Clarington, being held at the Garnet Rickard Centre.  I will have a booth there, so any of you who are close enough, please come on over and stop at my booth.  I will be speaking there three times this weekend - Friday at 5 p.m. Companion Planting; Saturday at noon The Natural Gardener; and Sunday at 3 p.m. Companion Planting again.

I'm done, now until next time.  Please follow me on facebook or twitter, and visit my website:

http://lm-jassociates.webs.com.   I will shortly have a new website and my own domain at www.sherleetooze.com  but there's nothing on it yet.  Keep checking it - the web designer tells me it's going to be a really WOW website - I will just have to wait and see, won't I?

It's March 11th, and the first Spring Home Show is under my belt.  Not a roaring success, but a pleasant weekend spent at the Tribute Centre in Oshawa meeting old friends and having some good conversations.

This photo appears to be a little lop-sided.  Never said I was a good photographer.
Ajax Home Show and Clarington Home Show still to go - looking forward to it, too!  Always lots to see and do at these events.


While I am hunting for photos, I might as well post a photo of my booth at the Mayor's Gala for the Arts, held recently at Bowma

A great event in support of the Arts in Clarington.  Proceeds are divided between the Visual Arts Centre in Bowmanville, and A Gift of Art in Newcastle.  I work with A Gift of Art   Here is a photo of my booth at the Gala.  The library was transformed with drapes and clothes all black and gold, so I modelled my table the same way and sprinkled a few gold sequins all over it.  Looked good, even in the dark.

Speaking of working with A Gift of Art, I am getting a bunch of people together to write their memoirs about emigrating to Canada.  They are all members of the Dutch community and come in all ages and with all sorts of memories.  Other people in the community will be asked to join in too with their memories of growing up in Newcastle.  When all is said and done, others, likely young people, will take these memoirs and write play(s).  Young and old will get parts in these plays.  Young and old will help build the sets and gather props.  And everyone else in the town will be asked to come and see the play(s).

Big undetaking.  It will take all year to put it together, but we'll do it.  I'll keep you all posted as to how we are coming along.

Report Day

I guess this is report day.... Firstly, the 1st Annual Cornish Heritage Day here in Clarington on March 4th, went very well.  As I said in my opening remarks that afternoon, "When you plan something like this you never know if anyone will come."  Well, 32 people came!  Whooppee!

We all ate pasties and saffron cake.  Had to fill the teapots (2) twice!

In the accompanying photo I'm the one way up at the front welcoming everyone.  Ten more people came in shortly after this photo was taken.

We called it the 1st Annual in the hope there would be others.  Everyone who attended enjoyed themselves and said YES to doing it again next year.
I think we have a winner here!  2nd Annual coming soon!
This year we ordered pasties from the Great British Pie and Pasty Company at Arnprior (near Ottawa).  They won the pasty competition last year at Eden in Cornwall, UK, so it was only natural that we'd want award winning pasties at our event.  I hate to say so, but they weren't all that good.  Oh, they had all the right ingredients, and right crimp (this is currently under dispute) but they just weren't right, if you know what I mean.

The next day we raised the Cornish (St. Piran's) flag on the town flagstaff in honour of St. Piran, Cornwall's patron saint.  St. Piran's Day is celebrated every March 5th.

In this photo we are out at the cenotaph (where the flag pole is located) watching it being raised.  I am on the far right end with the Mayor next, then councillors Hooper and Woo.  The lady in the back is the SNAP'D photographer and the gent in the very back is one of our attendees from the previous day who came back for the flag raising.

All in all, we had a proper good time this St. Piran's Day.  Now, if only  we could get some St. Austell ale for the occasion.... (some Sleeman's would do!)
For anyone with Cornish ancestry you might be interested in the website I started for The Cornish in Clarington.

It's almost spring... the Home and Garden shows are only a few weeks away.  You'll find 'yours truly" at the Oshawa Spring and Garden Show, the Ajax Spring and Garden Show and the Clarington Spring and Garden Show.
Oshawa - Tribute Centre - March 2,3 and 4.  You'll find me on the mezzanine level.  I will also be presenting an hour long power-point - The Natural Gardener.  Don't miss it.
Ajax - Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Centre - March 23, 24, 25 with the same presentation (in case you miss the Oshawa event)
Clarington - Garnet Rickard Centre - April 6, 7 and 8 - not sure yet if there will be any presentations here this year.
Stop and have a chat - review all my books - ask your gardening questions!

February 4, 2018

Snowing like crazy!  Staying indoors!  Sound familiar?  I think Canadians across the country are doing the same thing!

I'm sitting here thinking about my garden come spring....not such a long way off as you might think.  My garden consists mainly of vegetables.  I have one small corner where I am cultivating a tiny perennial garden, mostly to attract bees to the garden and fruit trees, but the rest of my effort goes into the production of food.

I'm fortunate to have been gardening for so many years, but some of you don't have that  experience.  To help you out I wrote Companion Planting, a book that helps gardeners plant friendly plants next to one another which helps (just one step in many) plants to be healthier and grow to their optimum.

I also wrote Birds, Bugs, Bees and Butterflies,

a book which helps you have a natural garden without chemicals.  Did you know that there are good bugs and bad bugs?  Yup!  Want to invite birds into your garden so they can eat the bad bugs?  Want to have lushiously bearing plants?  Bring in the Bees!  Did you know that butterflies also pollinate your plants?  Invite them in too!  How do you do all this?  Buy the book!

 These books are each $15 plus postage and can be ordered by contacting me or by going to my website.

January 18, 2018

Just trying to catch up here..... a new project has just come into focus.... Cornish Heritage Day in Clarington.  Yes, if you are descended from Cornish folk, or you have emigrated from Cornwall yourself, then this is going to be a great event to attend!

March 5th, in Cornwall, UK, is St. Piran's Day (St. Piran being the patron saint of Cornwall, and tinners).  So, to celebrate Cornwall and all its people, the Cornish flag will be raised on the town staff on March 5th where it will fly proudly all day.  One of the reasons is this.... in the early years of the 1800's, Cornish folk settled the front townships across the Lake Ontario shore from Hamilton Township (Cobourg area) through Hope Township (Port Hope area), Clarke Township (Newcastle area), Darlington Township (Bowmanville area) and into East Whitby Township (Oshawa area).  Mail boxes all up and down our sideroads still bear the Cornish names of those first settlers.  And so, to mark our Cornishness - a Cornish Heritage Day - the first of many, we hope!

On March 4th, from 2 pm to 3:30 pm, there will be a celebration of all things Cornish at the Sarah Jane Williams Heritage Centre on Temperance Street in Bowmanville.  There will be admission charged, but as the plans have not all been laid yet, that admission fee  is $15.  We will be enjoying pasties, saffron cake, tea and coffee and will be entertained by speaker(s) as well as an assortment of brochures, booklets and other material all about Cornwall through which you will be welcome to browse.

Not many people know they are Cornish, and of those who do, not many of them have ever set foot on Cornish soil.  That's too bad, because Cornwall is a lovely place.  I like nothing better than going to Fowey and watching the boats in the harbour; or going to St. Austell and visiting the brewery and tasting their latest offering; or travelling over to Land's End to see the channel and the Atlantic meet and broil; or visiting Eden, the renowned clay pit that has been established as a set of bio-domes in which plants from all over the world are grown.  Native Cornish plants grow outside the domes, all labelled and described.  There's even a little train that will take you around the pit so you can see all that has been done.

There are other great places in Cornwall to visit too, especially your own ancestral areas.  My ancestors came from two very different areas of Cornwall - some from the most northern parish in the county, Morwenstow, and some from the parish of St. Ewe, down near Mevagissey on the south coast.

On March 4th, we hope to have a smattering of information from all parts of the county so that you might get a glimpse of that area where your ancestors lived.

When I was a kid growing up in Ajax, Ontario, I was out playing in the dirt one day and a new kid on the block came along.  We tried talking to one another but for the life of me I couldn't understand half what she said.  I asked her what language she was speaking and she said Cornish. I asked where that was from and she shrugged her shoulders.  "I don't know, Cornland I think."  We were both about 8 years old so she can be forgiven for not knowing much about geography.  I did not hear the term 'Cornish' again until I was an adult researching my ancestral roots, and the picture of her flashed into my mind.

Live and learn. Come out to the event!

For further information please contact myself or contact Debra Sweetman .   Debra is my partner in crime with this project.  We put our heads together about a year ago and said we ought to do a St. Piran's day here in Clarington, and so, true to our words we are doing it!  How it turns out is anybody's guess.  I hope you will all show up and make it a roaring success!  Tickets are available at the Sarah Jane Williams Heritage Centre, Temperance St, Bowmanville, $15 each.  Don't wait - they are going fast!

 January 18, 2018
So much for monthly posts!!!  But then I guess Christmas and New Years got in the way - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!
In my last post I said I'd tell you about the second 150th Anniversary book I wrote,  Clarington's Home Children.  It came about in an odd set of circumstances....
I had an e-mail one day from a local lady who said she'd realized this part of our local history had not been looked at, and she thought I might be just the person to do it.  Of course, I knew about the Home Children, but the idea of any of them coming to this area never crossed my mind.  My new contact told me she knew of quite a few people in the community who were descended from Home Children (she started doing the research for me, it seemed!!) and that they were willing to sit down and talk about their relatives.  How could I turn down a project that had already been started?
Some of you may be wondering, "What on earth is a Home Child?"  Let me explain..... in the mid 19th century, people like Thomas Barnardo, a few church organizations, and some child welfare workers, all took in homeless children.  Often these children were grabbed off the street, and some it turned out, weren't homeless at all!  Many were brought to the 'homes' by parents who were going through hard times, planning on returning for their children when times got better, only to find that in the  meantime their children had been sent to Canada or Australia.  It wasn't for a few years after starting this humanitarian act, that the 'homes' across Britain realized there were just too many children to care for, and so the plan to send them to the colonies to become useful citizens was hatched between the British government and the governments of Canada and Australia, and so the migration of child labourers began.  That's how the Home Children arrived in Canada
So, armed with about a dozen names I went to town researching and it didn't take long to realize this would be a huge project - probably a decade long....
After two years of 24/7 research I had found nearly 700 Home Children had been sent to this area (the Municipality of Clarington which is made up of the former townships of Darlington and Clarke in the former Durham County).  Of those nearly 700 I chose to highlight 38 of the most recent emigrants, mainly because their descendants or their friends were still alive and could tell me something about them.  You see, Home Children were being sent to Canada between the years 1869 and 1949, and when I started this project I did not know that I already knew some of their children.
Years ago the CBC did a programme about Home Children and portrayed them as all having sad and abused lives.  Not so.  The bad experiences suffered by these waifs were few and far between.  Most had very good lives.  In Clarington, there was never a report of abuse to one of these children.  In fact, many of the girls were adopted by their host families.
This was an excellent book to research and write.  But writing the book isn't the end of the project.  I want to follow the lives of those nearly 700 to find out where they went, did they join up during WW1, who did they marry, and other such questions.  Like I said, a decades worth of work.
If you are interested in reading about Clarington's Home Children, please visit my website .......
<http://lm-jassociates.webs.com> and go to the 'orders' page.