The Craftiest Workshop

On Thursday I had glanced at my iPad and saw the news that the queen had passed away. I felt the need to tell my husband right away. Somehow it felt important to note the passing of the only reigning monarch we have known in our lifetime.

We both grew up in a time where we were reminded on a daily basis that we part of the British Commonwealth. At my elementary school, we would sing “O Canada” to start the day and ”God Save the Queen” before being let out at the end of the day. I am not sure when schools stopped singing ”God Save the Queen” or why, but at some point the tradition went by the wayside.

On Thursday, I was taken back to memories of when the Queen and Prince Philip had made a visit to my home town. The way I remember it, the visit was mostly to visit the National Doukhobor Heritage Village in Veregin. Kamsack, my hometown, had the closest airport just a ten minute drive from Veregin so they flew in there on a small plane.

There was a short program for the Royal couple at our high school.
I still have the card with the program.

In a time before there were tickets that could be scanned or coded bracelets, the only way to get into the school gymnasium was to have a paper invitation.

Here is mine. A slight misspelling of my first name but enough to get me in the door.

A dress code was put in the newspaper for all to follow. I had to laugh; 35 years ago acid wash jeans were in fashion not ”short afternoon dresses”.

There was a layout of the gymnasium to make sure everyone was in their correct spot.

Here is a picture of the floor plan.

I think the areas were even taped out to ensure that the maximum amount of people could fit.

The 🔴 is where I was seated.

I was in the band. I was in grade 8 at the time and had just started senior band at the beginning of the school year. For all us grade 8 students, we had a real trial by fire having to learn a bunch of new pieces in time for the queen’s visit.

Imagine trying to fit 75 students, their chairs and music stands into the back corner of the gym. We were crammed together and it was warm. Mid October in Saskatchewan, there was already wisps of snow on the ground and that meant the heat was on in the school.

I was busy following my music as we played the procession into the gym. I did manage to catch a glimpse of Prince Philip as he passed as he was quite a tall man.

I have two souvenir editions of the Kamsack Times, one before the Royal Couple arrived with some history and plans for the program and the other that came out after the visit.

Many of the dignitaries and some of the performers from that day are no longer with us. The Catholic priest that was the MC, the mayor, one of the music teachers that lead the choir and most (if not all) of the senior’s choir. The queen out lived them all.

In looking through the photos, it was a nice walk down memory lane seeing photos of our neighbours Violet Lucash and Mary Yurkowski as well as active members of our church like Bernard Moriarty, Marie Olshewski and Bernard Rink.

I imagine that my siblings were also there. My younger brother Doug would have been in grade five singing with the rest of the kindergarten- Grade 5 kids in the balcony. My brother Greg and sister Lisa would have probably been in the floor seats for students. My mom got a front row standing view of the royal couple outside the school.

The town had gifted the queen some pottery that was made by John Floch, the father of one of my childhood friends. I still have a few of his pottery pieces in our bedroom.

When anyone you know passes away, you reach back to memories associated with that person. The queen has played some part in everyone’s lives in many different countries across the world. It is only fitting that each of us reflect on those memories and say a prayer for her.