Living Heritage Podcast Ep004 Shipwrecks and Social Media with Heather Elliott

On Episode 004 of the Living Heritage Podcast, we talk shipwrecks and social media with Heather Elliott.

Heather Elliott has an educational background in anthropology and museum management. Her passion for maritime history inspired her to create her own blog, www.originalshipster.com. Through it, she tells stories of ships and shipwrecks from across Canada. In this interview, we talk of ships and the sea, and share tips for navigating the waters of social media.

Conception Bay Museum and the Anglican Church Assistance Association brass band

On Sunday, 2 August 2015, I had the pleasure of attending the Conception Bay Museum Founders' Day activities, to celebrate the establishment of the Conception Bay Museum on the 40th Anniversary of its official opening.

Former Heritage Foundation of NL chair Shane O'Dea spoke on the history of the museum and its place in the development of heritage in the region, a commemorative plaque was unveiled, the women of Coughlan United Church prepared War (Trench) Cakes from a WWI recipe, lemonade was imbibed, and the entire event was opened and closed in style by the gentlemen (and one lady) of the Upper Island Cove Anglican Church Assistance Association (ACAA) brass band.

The ACAA band is unique in Newfoundland, one of our oldest continually-running bands in the province, and over the past century has developed its own unique musical notation system. They played several selections, including the Ode to Newfoundland, which you can listen to here.

Ben Hiscock of Champney's West - Unity

This video clip is from an interview with Ben Hiscock of Champey’s West which is located on the Bonavista Peninsula in Trinity Bay, NL.  Last week I posted a video of Ben and one of his brother Roy both of whom grew up in Champney’s West and had great memories of growing up in the community, ship wrecks and rescues, square dancing, old graves, and local characters.

During a trip to Port Union and Champney’s West doing some workshops on asset mapping and oral history Dale and I had the opportunity to interview Ben and Roy Hiscock. Ben and Roy’s family has been in the community for generations. Both brothers had great stories and I would like to showcase a couple of their stories on the blog.

In this short video Ben describes the unity found in the community of Champney’s West when he was a young boy.  He describes how everyone helped everyone and the community pulled together to take care of one another.  I thought this was a beautiful clip which showcased the spirit found in the community of Champney’s West and I hope you enjoy the video!  

If you are in the area during August 7th-9th, 2015 make sure to stop in for the Champney's West days including their cardboard boat race on Sunday!

-Terra

Roy Hiscock of Champney's West - Weekly Meal Pattern

Snelgrove, Eric and Olive. Vegetable storage in their historic Quidi Vidi home.
LaDuke, John.
Photo courtesy of Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative.

What is your weekly meal pattern? Do you have one? Have you ever followed the one below?

Today I have a short video clip of Roy Hiscock of Champey’s West which is located on the Bonavista Peninsula in Trinity Bay, NL. If you saw the video earlier in the week of Ben Hiscock, Roy is Ben’s older brother. During a trip to Port Union and Champney’s West doing some workshops Dale and I interviewed these two older members of the community.

Ben and Roy Hiscock are brothers whose families have been in the community for generations. They had great memories of growing up in the community, ship wrecks and rescues, square dancing, old graves, and local characters. Both brothers had great stories and I would like to showcase a couple of their stories on the blog.

In the short video Roy describes the meals the family would eat during the week. I did a quick search on Memorial University’s DAI and came across a thesis on traditional Newfoundland foodways written by Pamela Gray in 1977. I included two pictures below of Gray’s work with examples of weekly meal pattern. I’ve seen the tradition of the weekly meal pattern mentioned in other articles but it isn’t something my family followed growing up.

How about your family - do you follow a weekly meal pattern? Is it similar to these examples of the traditional weekly meal pattern? Do you still have a cooked dinner (Jiggs dinner) on Sunday? Let us know in the comments below!

-Terra

The Memory Store: An optical illusion...

The video for this week's the Memory Store was filmed in the stairwell of the Anna Templeton Centre.  Executive director Beverly Barbour describes the process of installing an elevator in a historic building, especially one which is a bit of an optical illusion.  You can check out the building and the new elevator during an evening or weekend craft class at the centre.

Watch the video below or click here to watch on YouTube.

Click here for more information about the building's history and architectural style.  If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL. 

Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

Ben Hiscock of Champney's West - Earliest Memory

Fishing stage in Champney's West

Today I would like to introduce Ben Hiscock of Champney’s West. For anyone who doesn’t know, Champney’s West is located on the Bonavista Peninsula in Trinity Bay, NL. The small community is home to wonderful people who I had the opportunity to meet in June when Dale and I went to do an asset mapping and oral history workshop in the area.

I posted some pictures of the trip in mid-June. I included pictures of the asset mapping workshop, the coffee house with mummers and a trip into Elliston. I also mentioned that Dale and I interviewed two older members of the community, Ben and Roy Hiscock.

Ben and Roy Hiscock are brothers whose families have been in the community for generations. They had great memories of growing up in the community, ship wrecks and rescues, square dancing, old graves, and local characters. Both brothers had great stories and I would like to showcase a couple of their stories on the blog.

Today’s story comes from Ben Hiscock who describes growing up in the community and the lack of money found in the community. He tells the story of being given a penny with a hole in it and hammering the penny until the hole closed and he was able to buy candy. Check out the video below or click here to watch it on YouTube.

Make sure to stay tuned for a couple more stories from the Ben and Roy Hiscock of Champney’s West.

-Terra

Saving Our Stories Workshop in Corner Brook, August 5th

Saving Our Stories - An Introduction to Community Oral History with folklorist Dale Jarvis.
A free workshop organized by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, in cooperation with Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and to explore the world of oral history! It is free to attend, but you need to register in advance.

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

1pm-4pm
Brendan Sheppard Boardroom, Qalipu Office
3 Church Street, Corner Brook

Workshop is limited to first ten registrants. To register, contact Dale Jarvis at:
1-888-739-1892 x2
ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Pouch Cove Heritage & Cod Liver Oil

Left to right: Gail Everson, Terra Barrett, Margot Duley.

This morning I had the pleasure of interviewing Gail Everson and Margot Duley of the Pouch Cove Heritage Society for the Living Heritage Podcast. Although this episode won’t air for a couple of months, I wanted to share a little information about today’s interview and a couple of pictures taken this morning.

Gail Everson, formally a Hudson, is a lifetime resident of Pouch Cove. Her family owned and operated 3 Cod Liver Oil factories in Pouch Cove, Bauline and Cape St. Francis from the late 1800s until the mid 1960s. Dr. Margot Duley is a graduate of MUN and the University of London where she received a PhD in history. She currently lives in Pouch Cove, a community that she loves and where she finds inspiration for her ongoing writing in Newfoundland history. Founded in 2009 the Pouch Cove Heritage Society is a non-profit community association which assists the residents of Pouch Cove in identifying and protecting their local heritage.

Gail Everson showing one of her grandfather's diaries.

Our discussion mainly focused on the Heritage Society’s work including the Pouch Cove Heritage Days, storytelling circles, kitchen parties, and a commemoration of the Waterwitch shipwreck and rescue. We discussed how the society created “Our Home by the Sea” which is an extremely popular book about the community of Pouch Cove.

One thing in particular we discussed was the importance of cod liver oil to the community. The importance of this industry led the Heritage Society to create a short video and app with the help of Chris Brookes and a grant from the HFNL. This app can be downloaded on iPhones and android. The listener can choose the armchair option if they are unable to walk through the community itself or the listener can choose to listen by location as they walk through the community of Pouch Cove. Make sure to check out the Pouch Cove Memories app here!

Paid stamp in an account book.

After the interview Gail brought out some of her grandfather’s diaries which included account books with the names of men who purchased supplies such as leather, calico, or overalls and a small book with a list of how much cod liver oil was processed each year. There was note on one page where a man traded cod liver oil for supplies at the Hudson Store. I hope you enjoy the photos and let us know if you have any memories about cod liver oil. Did you enjoy the taste? Have you ever helped process cod liver oil? Let us know in the comments or shoot us an email at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

Account book.

Gail Everson and Margot Duley.

Directions for putting preservative with cod livers.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep003 - Community Engagement with Dennis Garreck @SaskCulture

In this episode of the Living Heritage podcast, folklorist Dale Jarvis speaks with Dennis Garreck of SaskCulture. 

Dennis Garreck has over 30 yrs experience working at the local, municipal, and provincial level as a programmer, manager and consultant. Dennis has been with SaskCulture for the past 14 years, working with communities on cultural engagement and planning, as well as managing three funding programs and liaising with provincial cultural organizations. Most recently he has been working on an ecomuseum advisory committee, community engagement animateurs, a living heritage region, and community outreach. Dennis talks about the work of SaskCulture to engage citizens across Saskatchewan in their own heritage and culture, inclusivity and cultural diversity, the ecomuseum concept, and the importance of maintaining and sharing local stories.