Corktown Christmas Forest

Alison Little tells us of the Corktown Christmas Forest which will be held at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse at 106 Trinity Street, Toronto on Sunday December 2, 2011. The Schoolhouse will open its doors to families, friends and newcomers for our third-annual “Corktown Christmas Forest” event from 11 am to 5 pm.

They are excited to present the “Forest” in our West Hall – Christmas trees decorated in hand-made Victorian ornaments. Each tree will be sponsored by a local business or group, and donated to the Salvation Army Local 614 of Regent Park following the event.

The schedule will include:

• 12 p.m. Reading of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” by our own ballerina – Katherine Belrose!

• 1 p.m. Performance by members of the Corktown Chamber Orchestra

• 2 p.m. Reading of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Stuart Hughes of Soulpepper Theatre Company

• 3 p.m. Performance by the St. Paul’s Toronto School of Irish Music

• 4 p.m. Reading of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”

• All day -  Victorian ornament-making demonstrations - try your hand at scrapwork balls, paper fans, cornucopias, sugarplums, stars and pomanders! Cider, coffee, tea and treats for all, and cupcakes baked by Pretty & Sweet will be on offer. Tours of the Schoolhouse will be available all day.

Admission is pay-what-you-can, with children under 10 admitted for free.

For more information, please call 416-327-6997 or email enochturner@heritagetrust.on.ca.

The website is at www.enochturnerschoolhouse.ca

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

How Did Ontario’s Early Settlers Celebrate Christmas?

Ever wondered how Ontario’s early settlers celebrated Christmas?

Drop by the Haldimand County Museum & Archives at 8 Echo St., Cayuga, Ontario on Saturday, December 1st from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, and enjoy some tea and a lecture on how settlers from 1812 celebrated the festive season.

You can contact them at 905.772.5880, or by email at museum.archives@haldimandcounty.on.ca

Go to their website at http://www.haldimandcounty.on.ca/residents.aspx?id=150 where you can see what they have to offer the genealogy researcher.

They have extensive collection of family histories, local histories, newspapers, church records, cemetery transcripts, census records, some birth, marriage and death records.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

SCHOOL OF CANADIAN IRISH STUDIES

On Friday, November 23, 7:00 p.m. at the Concordia University, School of Canadian Irish Studies located at the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve W., Room 1070 (10th floor). Montreal, they will be holding the 7th Annual St. Patrick’s Society Lecture .

The topic of the lecture will be “The Irish Decade of Commemorations: Some Reflections” and the speaker will be Catriona Crowe, National Archives of Ireland.

Catriona Crowe is Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland. She is Manager of the Irish Census Online Project, which has placed the 1901 and 1911 censuses online free of charge over the last 4 years. She is an Editor of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, which published its seventh volume, covering the period 1941-45, in November 2010. She is editor of Dublin 1911, published by the Royal Irish Academy in late 2011.

She is Vice-President of the Irish Labour History Society, and a former President of the Women’s History Association. She is Chairperson of the Irish Theatre Institute, which promotes and supports Irish theatre and has created an award-winning website of Irish theatre productions.

I have heard her speak on many occasions and she has a dedication to her subject that is commendable. So if you are near Montreal, and have Irish ancestors, this is a lecture your should not miss. .

The website of the School of Canadian Irish Studies is http://cdnirish.concordia.ca