Canadians will pause at the 11th minute of the 11th hour on Nov. 11 to honour those who have served — and those who continue to serve — our country in war and peace.
The Royal Canadian Legion will host ceremonies Saturday in communities throughout Greater Victoria and elsewhere on southern Vancouver Island.
Premier John Horgan plans to attend the West Shore ceremony at the cenotaph, where a newly planted oak tree is being grown from an acorn from a tree in Vimy Ridge.
After the ceremony, mix and mingle at your neighbourhood branch of the Legion, where you’ll have a chance to meet and talk to veterans of all wars, as well as current serving sailors, soldiers, airmen and airwomen.
“Come in for a bowl of soup or a sandwich,” said Norm Scott, president of Prince Edward Branch #91.
All members of the public can now become members of the Royal Canadian Legion, which also allows children in its facilities.
“All should be able to remember,” Scott said.
After it honours the fallen during the day, the Langford Legion is hosting a fundraiser to help the living at a Wounded Warriors fundraising dance in the evening.
The suggested donation is $10. The dance starts at 7 p.m. at the Langford Legion, 761 Station Rd.
Members of Royal Canadian Navy, Maritime Forces Pacific/Joint Task Force Pacific will be participating in local ceremonies throughout southern Vancouver Island on Saturday:
Greater Victoria
9 a.m.
• Aboriginal Remembrance Day Ceremony, Goldstream Park
10:55 a.m.
• City of Victoria Cenotaph (legislative assembly grounds), 501 Belleville St.
• Esquimalt Memorial Park Cenotaph, 1229 Esquimalt Rd.
• Oak Bay Cenotaph, War Memorial, Uplands Park, Beach Drive
• Saanich Municipal Hall, 770 Vernon Ave.
• Sidney Town Hall, 2440 Sidney Ave.
• Sooke Royal Canadian Legion, 6726 Eustace Rd.
• West Shore Cenotaph, Veterans Memorial Park, (intersection of Goldstream Avenue and Veterans Memorial Parkway), Langford
• Ross Bay Cemetery, 1494 Fairfield Rd.
Vancouver Island
10 a.m.
• Cobble Hill Community Hall, 3550 Watson Ave., followed by a ceremony at Liberation Park Cenotaph
10:55 a.m.
• Charles Hoey Memorial Park, Canada Avenue, Duncan
• Lantzville Royal Canadian Legion, 7225 Lantzville Rd., Lantzville
• Nanaimo Cenotaph, 85 Front St., Nanaimo
• Mount Arrowsmith Legion, 146 Hirst Ave., Parksville
Volunteer members of the Canadian Armed Forces are also available as speakers for community clubs, schools, seniors’ homes and other organizations. For information, go to forces.gc.ca.
For information on the Royal Canadian Legion, or to find a local branch, go to legion.ca.
Remembrance Day events: Speakers, live music and theatre
Other activities on Remembrance Day:
A Memory Project presentation at the Maritime Museum of B.C. features speaker Rebecca Garnham addressing Canada’s involvement in global conflicts and remembering Canada’s veterans.
The event is made possible by The Memory Project through Historica Canada and the Government of Canada.
Admission to the museum and the presentation is by donation. The event starts at 1 p.m. and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The museum is open noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at 634 Humboldt St. For information, go to mmbc.bc.ca.
—
The CapriCCio Vocal Ensemble presents In Remembrance, its annual Remembrance Day concert, at Christ Church Cathedral.
The program features the music of Eleanor Daley, Arvö Part and Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna for choir and organ, along with a première of a Canadian work by Robert Kowalewski, with traditional observances for the Battle of Vimy Ridge centenary.
Guest artists include Stevan Paranosic, trumpet, Robert Dukarm, organ and Jane Edler-Davis, piano.
Admission is free for veterans and children 12 and under (with ticket holder). Tickets are $25, $22 and $10. Tickets are available from Ivy’s Bookshop, Munro’s Books, Long and McQuade, Christ Church Cathedral Office, at the door or online. The concert runs 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Christ Church Cathedral, Quadra at Rockland. For information, go to capricco.ca.
—
Listen to Music for Remembrance Day, a performance by trio Edie Daponte, Joey Smith and Karel Roessingh at Beacon Landing in Sidney.
The performance is free to attend. It runs 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Beacon Landing, 2537 Beacon Ave., Sidney. For reservations, call 250-656-6690.
—
Remembrance Day events Saturday at the Royal B.C. Museum include:
• The Victoria Children’s Choir performing music on themes of war and peace. The award-winning choir, composed of more than 115 talented singers ages seven to 17, will sing songs from the time of both World Wars, patriotic Canadian songs and more recent compositions expressing the desire for peace. It runs 12:30 to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Clifford Carl Hall of the museum.
• The Nurse, the Soldier and Vimy Ridge traces the experiences of young B.C. and Canadian soldiers and nurses as they faced the horrors of trench warfare. Music of the time is interspersed with the letters, poetry, propaganda and news headlines. The program runs 1:30 to 1:50 p.m. Saturday in the Clifford Carl Hall
• These Fields of Crimson features historian Paul Ferguson, who will deliver his observations about the Great War. Learn how France and Flanders are planning for the future.The program runs 2 to 3 p.m. in the Newcombe Conference Hall.
All three programs are free to attend. They take place Saturday at the Royal B.C. Museum, 675 Belleville St. For information, go to royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.
Discover Esquimalt’s walking trails
Meet new friends, get healthy and learn about walking trails around your community at the Remembrance Day Community and Murals program, a Volkssport five, six or 10-kilometre walk Saturday starting from the Esquimalt Recreation Centre.
The walk is hosted by the Victoria YMCA Volkssport club, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy, non-competitive activities for people of all ages.
Although Volkssport activities can include swimming, cross-country skiing and cycling in clubs found in 50 countries around the world, walking events are the most popular among Volkssporters in B.C.
In consideration of Remembrance Day, Saturday’s 10-km route includes a view of Esquimalt naval dockyard and runs through a golf course to God’s Acre Veterans’ Cemetery and Chapel and along the Trans Canada Trail. An alternate ending for this walk will be at Memorial Park, so participants can attend the Remembrance Day ceremony.
The five-km walk follows the 10-km route but does not include the Trans Canada Trail.
The six-kilometre walk does not go to God’s Acre or the Trans Canada Trail. Walkers go through parks and Old Esquimalt and along sections of the paved trail beside the E&N rail line.
The three local Volkssport clubs in Greater Victoria — including Garden City Wanderers and the Juan de Fuca Pathfinders — offer a wide variety of walks throughout the year.
Membership is not mandatory to join a walk.
The first five walks are free, after which there is a fee of $1 or $2 per walk. Registration runs from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. Saturday. The 10-km walk starts at 9 a.m., while the five and six-km walks start at 9:30 a.m. from the Esquimalt Recreation Centre, 527 Fraser St. For information, call Hazel Dunham 250-385-5439 or go to letswalkvictoria.ca or walks.ca.
A history lesson in quilts
Trace the country’s changes through textiles at Canada’s History in Quilts and Fashion, Tuesday at the Salvation Army Citadel.
The program, hosted by the Victoria Quilters’ Guild, includes a collection of 25 quilts, some more than 100 years old, as well as 30 vintage outfits.
Quilts on display include:
• a quilt from the time of the Boer War
• a map of the world, with the British Empire appliquéd in red fabric, that was used to teach children about geography
• crazy quilts — one in wool and one that was used as a coffin quilt in 1895
• a fundraising quilt with the names written in India ink from 1870
• a Sunbonnet Sue quilt (original blocks from the late 1920s)
• a quilt made using feedsacks from the Dirty ’30s
Vintage outfits will be worn by models, including a stunning dinner gown from 1878. The collection includes original outfits from each era between the 1920s and today.
Entertainment includes a performance by Cathy Miller, known as the Singing Quilter.
Admission is $3 for guests. The event runs 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Salvation Army Citadel, 4030 Douglas St.
For information, go to victoriaquiltersguild.org.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
