Craig Bakay | Jan 22, 2020


Presumably, having the Duke of Sussex speak at one of their meetings after he moves his family to Canada was just Carolyn McCulloch joking around, but don’t put it past the Cloyne and District Historical Society.

“We’ll tell him to bring Meghan and Archie,” she said at the Society’s first meeting of 2020 last Monday in Cloyne.

The Society has been well known for inviting interesting and engaging guest speakers to its meetings and it looks like that’s a tradition it intends to continue as this meeting’s focus was what it plans to do in the coming year.

As an organization, it’s in good shape financially as Treasurer Ian Brumell reported a bank account with $4,900 in it, reserves of $4,800 and $95,000 in an ‘endowment fund.’

“We should have enough interest for one summer student,” he said.

But even so, they’ve applied to Young Canada Works for three summer students.

While the summer students are primarily employed at the Cloyne Pioneer Museum, they also help out with a variety of events and duties.

And speaking of the Museum, the Society is actively engaged in finding a replacement for volunteer Curator Margaret Axford, who retired last summer after 20 years in the position.

Just exactly what 2020 will look like for the organization has yet to be determined but that should firm up after the Feb. 17 meeting that they’re calling a strategic planning meeting with a Queens’ University professor coming to act as facilitator.

“It will be about where we want to go in the future, what people’s talents are and what would you be prepared to do,” said President Shirley Sedore. “And summer’s coming up so we’re looking for someone to look after the flower boxes.”

In all likelihood, there will be more bus trips like the one last November to the South Frontenac Museum in Hartington, a calendar, guest speakers and a return of “bring a thing and tell a tale.” There could also be courses on archiving and how to operate a metal detector.

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