Back to Scotland

Luisa, Ishmael, Jim, Hank, Vicki and ED

Yours truly and Luisa stayed on for a couple of days with Ed and Vicki and on Sunday afternoon we were guests of the South Edmonton Club at their post scavenger hunt BBQ at Gary's. Guess what - it was another fine day in Canada. We and Jim who was also staying over for a couple of days were once again given the best of hospitality and fellowship and we had the opportunity to meet the Members of our host Club.

The winners of the Hunt were presented, see photo, then Ed Korbyl asked Jim and I to give a quick feedback on the Group Friendship Exchange which we did and we also managed to field quite a few questions raised by the Members.

Hank who had been hosting Jim arrived just at the end of the BBQ, he had been over to the Birmingham Conference and had been visiting friends in London. Jim was delighted to find that Hank was slightly shorter than he was, contrary to all that we had been led to believe! The other photo shows Ishmael and Luisa, Hank and Jim and Vicki and Ed.

On the Monday Luisa and I had a quiet day, giving a final oiling to our whales, then over to Columbia Awards - Ed's Business where we saw laser engraving on metal and wood- cool stuff - we met Ed's staff and Jim would have enjoyed meeting a 6'8" Scot's descendant, sorry no battery in the camera again. Then we had an Italian lunch and a lazy pm before catching the plane to London. When Ed and Vicki dropped us at the airport it was a "fine sunny day!" but an hour later it had turned to thunder and lightening and the airport was closed down for an hour. Then we were away and landed only 40 minutes late at Heathrow and after connections we arrived at Edinburgh 10 minutes early. Having discovered that Andy Murray had made it to the 1/4 finals of Wimbledon.

At the house we were surprised to find food in the fridge- obviously our Australian visitors have had a positive effect on our kids! Only one day left for me as Secretary of the Club but I have received plenty of end of year and start of year correspondence.

Saturday 27th June 2009 - Farewell Party

The welcome Cake


Dru gedts a quaich from martin


Ann, Keith, Ed, Martin and Jim

Wayne and Dru

Richard, Gwen, Sheila, MacKenzie, Vicki, Kay and Luisa

Henry, Clayton, Margory

Ed and Ed!

We were all invited to a farewell party at Wayne and Marlene's, everyone had prepared some of the meal and Wayne had barbequed a huge side of beef which was succulent and really tasty.
Some of our hosts from Hinton and Whitecourt also came over and it was great to see them all again, Gwen, Richard and their grand daughter Mackenzie were there with Sheila and Sandi from Whitecourt. Bruce and Henry came from Hinton.
After the meal Martin took to the stairs and thanked all our hosts for the exceptional welcome given to us at each stop. He reflected on the Friendships that had been made and the sights that had been seen.
He next presented a Quaich to the Edmonton Club and one to Ed Korbyl for his major role in the whole tour. Martin then presented a Quaich to Dru and Gavin for all the detailed arrangements and running about in Edmonton.
We gave our final presentation of the tour and completed the evening with Auld Lang Syne.
A very emotional end to a splendid exchange.
A hundred thousand welcomes await you in Scotland.

Martin, Kay, Iain, Margory, Keith and Pauline will leave for Jasper tomorrow. Rod and Luisa will leave Edmonton for the UK on Monday and Jim will travel to Vancouver on Tuesday.
Ann and Harry catch the flight to Edinburgh on Sunday as Ann will be installed as President of Kirkcaldy Club on Tuesday. Good luck for a great year.

Saturday 27th June 2009 - Old Strathcona Market...

Kay, Marlene, Clayton and Martin

Rain overnight left the morning a little overcast but this burned off to a really sunny day by mid morning.
We met up at the Old Strathcona Saturday farmers market, where we saw lots of Canadian foodstuffs from yellow tomatoes to Ukrainian baking.
There was a jazz band playing and Ann entertained the shoppers with a display of country dancing.
We then took a return trip on the streetcar over the high level bridge over the river. It was really interesting - the cars and tracks have been fixed up by volunteers and the cars are manned by volunteers. The conductor was a retired Physics professor which made our Iain delighted as he had not had a physicist to talk to all tour! The conductor was also a Scotsman having emigrated from Paisley in 1972.
We went up to the conservatory a modern building of four pyramids each displaying different tropical plants. A great surprise to all was a burlesque show put on by 'Capital City Burlesque' a very saucy dance display. At the second performance Ann's services were needed again---no not for the dancing ---the music for the Can Can failed and Ann and one of the girls had to sing the tune for the girls to dance to- sorry no photos as your roving reported had the video going!
Back to our hosts before the farewell party.

Friday 26th June 2009 Edmonton Fort - Soap Stone Carving

Yes another sunny day.

We were off to Edmonton Fort a living museum with relocated buildings from all over Alberta, with working farm, waggon rides, Indian demonstrations.............. Dru had arranged for a guide, Emily and she led the group round filling us all with interesting facts and arranging a tram ride back to the entrance for lunchtime.

Our hosts had arranged a picnic in the woods just outside the fort and this was really lovely on the sunny day we had.

Well the morning was pretty special but in the afternoon we set off to meet Ken Griffiths a Rotarian artist who showed the team how to carve soapstone. Well we had all thought this would be a serious challenge but Ken coaxed everyone into making a stone whale complete with fins and then we were shown how to oil it to bring out the feature in the stone. What a super experience. Rod thanked Ken for a super experience.

An evening with our hosts rounded off another great experience.

Thursday 25th June 2009 - Edmonton - West Edmonton Mall

Yes another fine sunny day in Canada.
Off to the Legislature Building (House of Parliament) for a tour of the building including the debating chamber and seeing portraits of a Lieutenant Governor and his wife both of which had eyes and knees that followed us right around the building.
We also were shown the 'secret spot' where on the top floor one could clearly hear the sound of running water ion the fountain floors below. This was a chance phenomena discovered by a workman some time after the building was opened. Jim presented a pin to Janet our guide for providing a very informative tour.
A lunchtime meet of the Edmonton Rotary Club was the next port of call, a large Club with about 200 members and it was the President's Valedictory so we were treated to the year in Rotary, with some fantastic projects carried out by the Club. A youth exchange from Mexico gave her presentation of her year with the Club and was quite emotional as she bid farewell to the Club.
A 90th birthday was celebrated during the proceedings.

Next off to the City Hall to pick up some history on Edmonton and where Martin signed the City visitor book on behalf of the group.

Next off to West Edmontn Mall the biggest shopping mall in the world! Well this sorted out all the souvenirs for the folks back home and we caught a sea lion display and ice skating.

An evening with our hosts rounded of another great day.

Wednesday 24th June 2009 Baseball at Edmonton

Ed Korbyl had arranged for us all to go to the Baseball. This was a super evening with plenty of sunshine and our hosts explained the game and the rules. Edmonton Capitals were playing an American team Armada and beat them by 5 to 1.

After the game back with our hosts after a short tour of the town.

Our hosts were:

Ed and Vicki Korbyl - Rod and Luisa

Gavin and Drew Edmiston - Keith and Pauline

Wayne and Marlene Cameron - Iain and Marjory

Clayton and Margaret Ridgeway - Martin and Kay

Russ and John Mann - Ann and Harry

Hank Hendricks and Ishmael Flores - Jim Rennie

Wednesday 24th June 2009 Whitecourt - Buffallos - Edmonton

Yet another fine day in Canada. We met at the Forrestry Interpretive Centre and Gwen arranged for us to get inside some of the old buildings in the grounds, the old church was so interesting and the farmhouse with the stoves downstairs and upstairs.
Then it was time to go to Mayerthorpe, to the East on the 43. Here we spent time at the Fallen Four Memorial. A memorial to four RCMP officers killed in action. A truely moving visit where we were able to leave our thoughts on paper and in the digital book of rememberance.
We next went to the Bison Ranch at Rochfort Bridge again just off the 43 here we met Neil who had recently taken over the ranch from his grandfather who had started breeding Angus cattle then moved in to Bison. The Bison bulls that Neil had close to the farm were very inquisative and came up close in the paddock so we all got a great view.
Neil handed out Buffallo Jerky for all to try and our Canadian hosts rated it amongst the best they had ever tasted.
Neil then took us across country to see the young bulls, about 100 of them in a herd, they were quite frisky and we got some near stampede type shots. Neil had a 15 year old Bison that was tame and he lives with the young males to 'calm' them. So here we are in the middle of a huge field with bison running round us and this old bill comes up to be petted!! Wow what an experience.
On the way to Lunch Neil took us past the Cows and calves again for some great photos. After Lunch Ann thanked Neil for a wonderful time.
The hosts from Edmonton arrived after lunch and we bid farewell to our Whitecourt friends.

A link to Google Maps

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=drayton+valley+canada&sll=54.13026,-112.950439&sspn=2.987252,7.042236&ie=UTF8&ll=52.629729,-116.499023&spn=6.190322,14.084473&z=6

The link shows Drayton Valley at A with Edmonton to the East, Hinton to the West and Whitecourt to the North.

Tuesday 23 June 2009 - Paper Mill, Camp Fire Lunch

A sunny fine day at Whitecourt.
A 10.00 meet at the Forrestry Interpretive Centre where we met John Dahl a very senior member of the community, a Rotarian and President of the Community Heritage Society. It was John that had led the building on the Centre. John had the Team singing before he left.

A short safety video and we were off to the Alberta News Print works for a guided tour with Katrina.

At the plant were were made more than welcome by all whom we met and the process was explained at every stage. It was truely fascinating to find everyone on the staff so involved in the economics of running the plant, the price of energy being monitored every 20 seconds. The paper rollers and driers had paper running over rollers at 1900 ft per minute!

At the end of the tour Iain thanked Katrina and the rest of the works team and presented Katrina with a token of the team's appreciation.

We were next off to Rochford Lake a beautiful lakeside setting where a camp fire was expertly lit by Ralph and Iain and we were all able to make hot dogs and 'smores' (Marshmallows with chocolate bar bushed inside and sandwiched between two crackers - Delicious!

After a walk around the lake it was back to the host's to prepare for the evening meal at the Casino.

Other Members of the Club and John Dahl joined the team for a fine meal at the Casino, once again the quality of the food was excellent and the quantities huge!

Iain thanked the hosts and the Club for accommodating the Team and went on to present tokens to Gwen who had done a splendid job of arranging the stay and the programme. A quaich was presented to Nevis and Fred for their contribution to the visit.

And so to bed!

Monday 22 June 2009 Whitecourt

A fine sunny day. We met at 9.00 at the Forrestry Interpretive Centre where we were allowed to roam the display area with many old photos and stuffed cougar-really quite a large creature!
We were then given a really interesting series of for videos informing on the care and study of the widlife and plants of the area and how to avoid and deal with forest fires.
Next we were guided by Katrina, from the Chamber of Commerce, around the Millar Western pulp mill a huge mill where we saw the whole process from the wood chippings coming in one end to the pulp going out the other. We were shown the computer control room and the process was explained by the operator.
Next off to lunch at the Club meeting where Lyndsay Moyle the Club Secretary was in the chair. Banners were exchanged and the Mayor was presented with a Highland council plaque. We then gave our presentation and the Mayor thanked the team for an informative talk and confirmed the Whitecourt welcome.
After lunch we were back in Katrina's capable hands, she had come to lunch with us. We were shown round the saw mill side of the plant seeing the logs entering the building, then having their bark removed next sawn into planks. The planks were then computer sized and run through a planer, visually inspected, bundled and packed for delivery. Rod thanked Katrina on behalf of the team and made her an honorary Rotarian for the day as she will be guiding us again tomorrow.
The Rotary Park was the next stop, a park with waterslide, fountain, pavillion and 100 ft planter and flowers all sponsored by the Club. What a fine facility this was. Ice creams then home for dinner.
After dinner a serious quad trek to the fire tower for Rod and Luisa. Richard needed to winch Rod out of a flooded track at one point. The views from the top were pretty special, we were able to see all the town.
We were all invited up to Nevis and Fred's helicopter, at the airport and taken for an ariel trip around the area. This was a super treat with all the party getting some great pictures from the air Rod thanked Fred and Nevis for the extraordinary treat, noting the delighted faces on the whole of the team who all joined in a hearty round of applause.
Fred then took us all outside and gave a short talk on harvesting the pine cones with helicopter equipment-truely fascinating.
And so to bed.