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Editor's Notes - 1992 Yearbook
Yearbook 1992 By: Shirley Beyer Back to the web versionEditor's Notes
The Ottawa Horticultural Society has had a long history of furthering the beautification of the city and of providing advice to gardeners but what is a society if not a collection of people and what is history if not a collection of stories' about people and their events?
Some of the official stories have been recorded by Fred Pain who compiled our history in 1963 and fortunate for us that he did because a fire at City Hall Records' Office destroyed much of our early material. Most of our Year Books had been given to the National Archives of Canada where they are stored as part of the Canadian Society Archives Service collection in Renfrew. These can be accessed with a few days notice by researchers 24 hours a day at the National Archives on Wellington Street. I know because I did just that and believe it or not, I was not the only occupant of the library at 2 A.M.!
From these archived files I have resurrected a couple of articles to be reprinted in this special CENTENNIAL YEAR BOOK: Others will appear in future editions.
One of our Centennial projects is the completion of Fred Pain's history to bring us right up to present day. Work has already started and we are looking for more volunteers who might be able to assist in writing up notes based on Directors' Meetings Minutes and Year Books that would be provided for your review. If you would enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at how your Society has operated over time, please call Judy Shedden at 726-1674.
I had fun reviewing the old Year Books and reading about people that I only knew about as names on trophies or as legends. This got me wondering about them and I began to ask people what they remembered about the Society's past. I pestered many a person in my quest for tidbits of "personal history" and I would like to thank them all for sharing their unique views with me. From these conversations I have extracted bits and pieces which I've collected together as a quiz on page titled "Did You Know. . .?". The answers to some questions can be found in other parts of this CENTENNIAL YEAR BOOK while others can be discovered by talking with other club members. There's still a lot I haven't learned about our group and I'd like to hear all the stories I can. Please call me at 235-2853 if these tidbits spark other memories.
Its fun to reminisce and its exciting to plan our first ever CENTENNIAL! As you can see by the letters of congratulations that we have received, others are impressed by our achievements and wish us continued success.
The CENTENNIAL PLANNING COMMITTEE is to be commended for their grand effort in organizing an eventful 1992, sure to be our best Centennial to date! The contribution of Judy and Doug Shedden in particular should be acknowledged. They worked long hours hosting a dozen people at monthly dinner meetings (even on July 1st). They kept track of the different projects, recorded the decisions and encouraged members by their unfailing good spirits and "seconds" on the desserts.
I'm looking forward to our CENTENNIAL and hope to see you at all the events. Keep your eyes and ears open as there just might be a Centennial version of the "Did You Know. . .?" quiz next year.
Enjoy!
Shirley Beyer, Editor,
CENTENNIAL YEAR BOOK
Please contact the OHS or the author if you wish to republish these articles.