OMEGANS of 1949-50
Omegan News and Updates:Monday, May 25, 2015
Grant Bomberger
Carson Update 2020
Christie, Edwina & Neil
Life in our seniors' ghetto here in Guelph is like a calm port in a frightening storm. Canada is going through a steadily worsening second wave and Toronto is completely shut down. There are about 6,000 new cases every day in the country and that number doesn't seem to be going down. Clearly not everyone is obeying the repeated warnings about travel, gatherings, masks etc. especially in Quebec and Alberta while Ontario is close behind. In Guelph, however, we had only 33 new cases yesterday (although there are now about 133 active cases in the city). This means that many stores are open, the malls haven't been shut down and it is possible to walk by the river but not to have guests in the house. We are particularly fortunate because our daughter Christie managed to get away from Stratford=Upon-Avon on November 6 to come and stay with us for a couple of months. She quarantined in our basement and is currently enjoying her early retirement from teaching although she is still working on a book about Robert Lepage. So we are particularly lucky in being able to live a more or less normal life as we wait impatiently for the vaccine to arrive. What we miss, of course, is contact with the rest of our family. But the miracle of modern technology enables us to "Zoom" to Glasgow to talk to Lynne and the grandchildren. Anna has recently graduated with a degree in animation from Central St. Martins and has moved back to Glasgow with her boyfriend (also an animator) to try to start a career. It could hardly be a less auspicious time. Cameron, her brother, is also hoping to find work as an actor (with little luck so far). Even Mark is temporarily out of work having left the BBe. But he has joined a friend in a private production company and will be working out of a little studio he has rented. He is enjoying the freedom and the escape from the politics of the Corporation. These are not good days for anyone interested in the arts. We are both well. Edwina is delighted to have Christie to go shopping with (a kindred spirit in the bazaar). She tries to keep Neil active by insisting that he take her for a walk by the river. He does on sunny days, but would be perfectly content to spend all his time reading or watching the amazing fare on TV. Tonight it is the Stratford Festival production of "Caesar and Cleopatra" with Christopher Plummer! We hope you are keeping well and have as pleasant a Christmas as possible. We look forward to the time we will be able to meet face-to-face again - sometime in the uncertain future
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Carson Update 2019
Update 2019
It is
astonishing how quickly the weeks and months go by now that we have nothing to
do! Life in our “village” is pretty tranquil except for the welcome visits of
our daughters to help us celebrate birthdays (mine in March and Edwina’s in
June). Apart from such celebrations we rely on the resources of the Village and
the city. The Village offers an amazing variety of activities both physical and
social. The facility we most appreciate is the indoor swimming pool in the
Village Centre which is literally just across the street. There are also
lectures and discussion groups which help to keep us mentally alert. But most
surprisingly, the Guelph cinemas offer an amazingly rich variety of films on
opera, ballet, art, and theatre which make us feel that we are still connected
to international cultural life -
Metropolitan Opera, Bolshoi Ballet, National Theatre, and a whole
network of Art Galleries from around the world. We are also involved in
bringing music to the Village in programs ranging from classic to jazz.
The highlight
of our year, however, is always our trip to Britain to see the family. Although
we keep in touch with them on Skype every week it is not the same as seeing
them in person. We are lucky to have access to a great flat in London . It
belongs to the widow of a former Canadian diplomat whom we met several years
ago through a mutual friend. She wants to maintain her Canadian status which
requires that she spend six months of the year in Canada. As a result her flat
is available during the summer and we have been taking advantage of the
situation for several years. The location is ideal, within easy reach of most
of the West end attractions, and it is also large enough for us to have
visitors. Consequently we were able to see quite a bit of our far-flung family.
Lynne and her husband, Mark, passed through London on their way to a holiday in
Rhodes so we saw them briefly going and coming. Our grand daughter, Anna, is
now in London where she is studying animation at Central St. Martins. She is in
her second year there having astonished us all first by deciding to shift her
focus from English literature to art and secondly by gaining admittance to one
of the leading art schools in the country. She seems to be enjoying herself and
is quite at home in the “big city” (having spent one of her undergraduate years
in Singapore from where she travelled extensively in Asia.) Cameron, our
grandson, is enrolled in theatre studies in Glasgow where he is preparing to
become an actor! I can’t imagine any more risky ambition but we encourage him
as much as we can (albeit with a sinking heart). We are probably unduly
apprehensive. He may do very well. In any case the future seems so particularly
uncertain these days that he might as well do what he enjoys as long as
possible. How long that may be is anybody’s guess in the current political
turmoil. We can hardly believe what is happening to the Britain we thought we
knew. All of the politicians (to say nothing of many of the ordinary citizens)
seem to have gone completely mad. The future seems impossible to predict. Here
is a picture of us outside the Young Vic Theatre trying
to ignore the current disturbing uncertainty.
to ignore the current disturbing uncertainty.
Back here in
Guelph Edwina and I are well (having finally recovered from a nasty flu we
caught on the plane coming home). We have become adjusted to life in our
retirement village. It is a curious limbo-like existence but one that suits our
declining energy level. I have become quite tolerant of the men who cut our
grass, take away our garbage, shovel the snow, and keep the landscape
remarkably attractive.
We wish you a
merry holiday season and a New Year more settled than the one we have just
lived through.
Update From Neil Carson 2018
Update December 2018
We hope you have had a happy and
productive year. Our life in 2018 was
highlighted both by interesting activities in the Village and two memorable
trips outside. One of our main pleasures here is our involvement in a group we
formed called Pro Musica which organizes concerts in the Village. This year
these activities were disturbed by a serious flood in the recreational centre
where the concerts are held. A burst watermain destroyed the hall floor so we
had to scramble to move our April program into a local church. By June the hall
had been repaired and we mounted a marvelously successful program devised and
written by Edwina featuring the life and songs of Vera Lynn. The original idea
had been to stage this show close to Remembrance Day, but owing to casting
difficulties it had to be postponed. In the course of her research and writing
of a continuity script for the show, Edwina wrote to Vera Lynn herself telling
her what we were doing. To our amazement and delight she replied! Apparently
she is still active, keeps in touch with fans, and runs a Children’s charity at
the age of 102. The artists involved would like to take the show on the road
and are considering approaching some of the musical festivals in the province.
Although
we speak to our daughters weekly on Skype we were delighted that we were able to
spend quite a bit of time with them first here in Guelph and later in London.
Possibly because the numbers are getting bigger, both Lynne and Christie
managed to come to help us celebrate our birthdays (in March and June) this
year. Then in September we travelled to London where we spent six weeks
visiting with children and grandchildren. Anna has just started an MA in Animation at the
Central School of Art (London University of the Arts) near King’s Cross. The
fees are a bit of a shock after
benefitting from free education in Scotland, but she is working part-time and
is living in her grandmother’s flat in Cockfosters. Having spent a year in
Singapore she is no stranger to big cities, but I think she is a bit
overwhelmed by the problems of getting about in London (especially from remote
Cockfosters). Cameron is studying acting in Glasgow and seems to have found an
educational milieu that suits him. (It has been a long search). He is involved
in work at the Citizens’ Theatre and is going on a tour in the summer so if not
“launched” he may be on the take-off pad of a career.
Both Lynne and Christie are
thriving. Lynne continues to write and publish children’s books and has become
in some demand as a speaker in Scottish schools. She recently spent a week in the
Shetland Islands as guest of the Scottish Book Trust. Her husband, Mark, is
still a busy BBC Radio producer spending a great deal of time travelling to
exotic lands. He has also managed, at last, to persuade Lynne to join him on
some of his excursions. Lynne, like her mother, however finds travel
problematic because of her allergies which seriously complicate the business of
eating in restaurants. Christie is caught up in the scramble of universities in
many countries to cope with the shrinkage of government support. They are
reorganizing the structure of the arts program where she works, consolidated
several departments into “schools” with new heads and different procedures.
This is all complicated by the uncertainties of Brexit as the supply of foreign
students is liable to dry up. She manages to stay cheerful.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Report from the Buchanans
Report from Bruce Gellatly
Hi Don .
It was great to hear from you about a possible Omega get
together. Nothing in the world would please me more. My health has taken many
turns for the worse since I turned 80. which now require me to use a walker and
a wheel chair. Along with rheumatoid arthritis I have congestive heart failure.
I have home care 8 hours per day. To make a long story short
I'm not allowed to fly, and so would not be able to attend. Please keep me posted so I can send greetings when you get together. Best
wishes to you all. Bruce
Bruce 2015
Who knew Bruce Played the Piano?
Labels: Gellatly, Member Updates
Friday, May 22, 2015
Bruce Hodgins Eulogy
To View An Appreciation of Bruce by
James Cullingham
Click on www.ActiveHistory.ca and then enter Bruce Hodgins in the search Box that appears and then click SEARCH. When the new web site appears. Click on the Title and the remainder of the article will appear.
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