Kings County GenWeb  New Brunswick - Canada

 

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 These three photo each have 3 separate views. They have been cut below and slightly enlarged.

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Saturday, September 7 th, 2002, at the Sussex Lions Den Hall, was the site of this year's Home Children and descendants reunion. An enjoyable day was spent by over 135 individuals from as far away as Vancouver, Calgary and Ontario, and with 20 registered from Nova Scotia. The remainder of our gathering came from Campbellton, Moncton, Fredericton, Centerville, Woodstock, Saint John and our local surrounding area. Although attendance was down from the two previous years, the opportunity to view the photo displays and visit the research room was much easier.

Three surviving Home Children from the Middlemore Homes of Birmingham, England, were our Honored guests. Annie Cairns of Fredericton, Sid Coles of Fredericton, and Arthur Weston of Centerville were able to reunite with several other friends for the day. Unable to be present was Elsie Hatheway of Plaster Rock, William Bell of Bible Hill, N.S., and Gwen Pottie of Cape Breton, N.S.

In 1995, Annie Cairns had the privilege of assisting in the presentation of a special plaque to honor the Home Children at the Wandlyn Inn in Bedford, N.S., the site of the Middlemore Home known as the Fairview Station. In 1999 due to receivership of the Inn, the plaque disappeared. It has been with great interest to our Nova Scotia constituents that a new plaque be erected at this original site and they wish to pursue the issue through the assistance of Heritage Canada to replace this plaque on a monument at this the original site.

Deputy Mayor of Sussex, Marc Thorne, and MLA for Kings East, Doug Cosman gave a heartfelt welcome to the gathering. Our guest speaker, Michael Staples, an author and journalist from Fredericton, spoke strongly on the topic of intolerance and how we as citizens should not allow the misconduct towards society to continue. Sandi Lowther, of the P.E.I. Tourism, spoke on the project of the Canadian Center for Home Children of Cavendish, P.E.I. and their upcoming Festival being held September 12th -15th. Research assistance was supplied by Marion Crawford of Belleisle Creek, N.B., and Cecil Verge of New Mines, NS. Marion has volunteered for the past year with the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa to index microfilm reels in a project being undertaken in conjunction with the National Archives of Ottawa. Cecil has been the inspirational force in setting up regular meetings of our Nova Scotia family of descendants and assists greatly with their family research.

We would like to take this opportunity to say that without the assistance of the volunteers, our day event would not have gone so smoothly. A big thanks to our Master of Ceremonies Mr. Bob Andrews and also to Georgina MacDonald who took on the meal preparations. Special thanks to the following volunteers: Mary Northrup, Bernice Pearson, Marilyn Verge, Nancy Avery, Wendy & Jessie Virtue, Glendon & Erna Codling, Joe & Mary Dobbelsteyn, Richard Crawford, and Doris Holmes.

Local companies assisted with prizes that were drawn to help raise funds. Special thanks goes to Fundy Mutual Insurance, Sussex Co-op Basics, Barbours Foods, Dunster’s Donuts, Tim Horton’s, Gould’s Nursery, Kent Building Supplies, Sussex Home Hardware, Moffett’s Hardware, Lawton’s Drug Store. and Sussex Supervalue.

Anyone wishing assistance in their research can contact Marion Crawford at 506-485-1815/ mcrawfd@nbnet.nb.ca and Cecil Verge at willowcb@auracom.com