Delta Marsh History Initiative, Steering Committee Meeting

9:00 am, 19 January 2004
Home of Shirley Christianson, Portage la Prairie

Present: Barry Bills, Maurice Blanchard, Shirley Christianson, Denzil Gamble, Gordon Goldsborough (sec), Heidi den Haan, Bob Jones, Glen Suggett

1. Minutes of the last meeting (17 November) were approved by consensus.

2. Business arising from the minutes

a) McEwen – Goldsborough will provide some questions to Jones.

b) Kirchhoffer – Goldsborough showed the photographs of the Kirchhoffer family that he obtained from the Daly Museum in Brandon.

c) Lunman – Goldsborough showed the photocopies that he received from Mr. Lunman of historic duck decoys used at Delta, including ones made by the Warrin brothers for the visit of the Duke of York in 1901.

d) Naylor – Information on Tom and George Naylor was received from Joyce Ward, May Garnham, Gordon MacDonald, and supplemented by information on their World War I service from the Library and Archives of Canada web site.

e) Deprez – Goldsborough reported on his meeting with Ms. Angele Deprez, who worked for Donald Bain at his farm at Grosse Isle.

f) Blanchard – Goldsborough and den Haan had a two-hour interview with Maurice on 1 December that provide lots of excellent information. Another session will be arranged after the tapes have been reviewed, and when Maurice is feeling up to it.

g) Kirkwood – Christianson reported that Mrs. Mary Kirkwood, who provided us with information, recently passed away. Geoff Heal, who had provided Goldsborough with information about his business dealings with Donald Bain, passed away last week.

h) Sports Afield – Goldsborough made backup copies on DVD of the large collection of photographs scanned at the lodge in Fall 2002. A copy was given to Bills for archival (in catalog starting with DM0400), and to Suggett. A copy will also be sent to Mr. Dick Wallin, who owns the lodge.

i) Interviews – Methods of carrying out interviews with people were discussed. It was proposed to hold Open Houses which many people could attend, and allow for more wide-ranging discussion than might be possible in smaller groups. Posters would be put up in prominent public places to get a good attendance; certain people would be invited to sure they could attend one of the events. We would video-tape the proceedings as a permanent record. Free refreshments would be served (provided by staff at the Delta Marsh Field Station). It was decided that four successive Sunday afternoons (1:30 to 5:00 pm) in March would be the best time to hold them. The tentative schedule and action to be taken is as follows:

Date	Location	Action
7 March	St. Ambroise, Community Centre	den Haan will call Alf Lavallee
14 March	Westbourne, Seniors Centre	Gamble will call the Centre to arrange
21 March	Portage la Prairie, Herman Prior Centre	Christianson will call Cheryl at the Prior to see about availability of the small meeting room
28 March	Oakland, Curling Rink	Goldsborough will call Shirley Love or Brenda Moorhouse

Note: Locations were re-arranged from those discussed at the meeting on feedback from Shirley Christianson later in the day.

j) Portage Diversion photos – Suggett will contact the provincial Water Branch to see if they have photographs of the construction of the Diversion in the late 1960s.

k) Sparling – Goldsborough received an email last week from a Mr. Chris Sparling of Calgary, the grandson of deceased Judge Clarence Sparling of Portage la Prairie, who had hunted in the marsh. His mother in Flin Flon has photographs of Clark Gable at the marsh in 1938-9, and other photos. Goldsborough will respond indicating our interest in seeing these photos.

l) Newsletter – The next newsletter will contain: 1) an article about either Tom Naylor or Totogan, depending on which can be completed soonest, 2) a notice about the upcoming Open Houses, and 3) a notice about a Fish Fry in February (below). There were leftovers from the last newsletter so Goldsborough will make 900 copies this time. The deadline for inserting the newsletter with the Fort La Reine Museum News is 11 February. Goldsborough will deliver the newsletter to Bills before this date.

3. Other business

a) None

4. New business

a) Fish Fry – Blanchard attended the meeting to indicate that he and his son would be willing to hold another fish fry in late February, if we wished. After discussion, it was agreed to hold it on Saturday, 28 February at the Herman Prior Centre in Portage la Prairie, from 11:00 to 2:00 pm. Jobs were assigned as follows:

Tickets	Goldsborough will print and deliver to Christianson by this Wednesday.
Posters	Goldsborough will print and deliver to Christianson by this Wednesday.
Coffee / Tea	Suggett will purchase.
Other drink	Bills will purchase.
Dessert	After discussion, it was decided to forego dessert at this event.
Raffle	After discussion, it was decided not to have an elaborate raffle such as at previous events. However, Christianson and den Haan will arrange a few prizes for possible contests.
Signs	Jones will obtain them from Don Poschenrieder.
Advertising	Bills to arrange advertisements with the Daily Graphic and CFRY Radio.
Ticket taking	Barry and Valerie Bills will oversee.
Setup (9:00 am)	Goldsborough, Suggett, Jones, and Christianson.
Posters for hall	den Haan will arrange.
Slide show	Goldsborough will arrange.

Use of the Prior Centre will cost $150 ($100 for the hall and $50 for the caretaker).

5. Next meeting: The next meeting will be held at the home of Shirley Christianson (118 Wilkinson Crescent, Portage la Prairie) at 9:00 am on Monday, 16 February 2004.

6. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:55 am.