OMEGANS of 1949-50
Omegan News and Updates:Sunday, May 24, 2015
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.
posted by DonA, OAC 1958 # 12:41 AM 
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