February 23, 2014 - Family Heritage Day - Cantley 1889's 3rd Annual Meeting - 2014

On February 23, 2014 close to 70 people met at St Elizabeth's Parish Hall to learn more about Cantley's heritage and the work of Cantley 1889. Because of its great success, both last year and this, the last Sunday afternoon in February will continue to be an annual event for Cantley 1889's "Family Heritage Day - Annual Meeting".

This year, Linda Bardell from the Gatineau Valley Historical Society Archives (GVHS) scanned some of the historic photos which were brought for display by Cantley families. This marked the inauguration of our own Cantley archives. This Cantley material will also be catalogued in the award-winning GVHS archives.

The afternoon's entertainment began with the showing of Pierre Belisle's innovative videos he created for Cantley's heritage (also on our Cantley 1889 web site). Wes Darou was M.C. for the short business part of the meeting. President Margaret Phillips presented her 2013 report and gave special recognition and thanks to Erik Rask for our web site and to Pierre Belisle for his videos about Cantley's heritage. Minor changes to our bylaws were quickly explained and passed by vote and our 11 board members were elected. We welcome new board member David Snider, replacing Michel Martel. Many thanks for all the work Michel did during 2013, particularly the many hours of hard work he spent on the tugboat project. The highlight of the afternoon was Bob McClelland's "A trip down the old Cantley Road". With Bob's wonderful slide show, we travelled from the Alonzo Wright Bridge from its earliest construction along the old, and new, highway 307 north to Wilson's Corners. On the way, were fascinating archival photos and entertaining stories of the road, places and people based on Bob's in-depth historical research.

Many guests joined or renewed their Cantley 1889 memberships. On sale were: "L'Histoire de Cantley ~ History of Cantley", "Cantley - l'impossible rêve" (on Cantley's independence from Gatineau in 1989 by Gérard Bourgeois) and note cards of historic Cantley scenes. Guests enjoyed visiting friends and neighbours while enjoying the delicious home-made refreshments.

See Cantley 1889 - Board of Directors 2014 and 2013 annual report or contact Cantley 1889 at info.cantley1889@gmail.com.