Once the 2020 Annual General Meeting was over in September (very late because of the pandemic) Joan Chalovich let us know that she would be stepping down as President of the Board. Joan, who was once Mayor of Cobourg, has been our leader since the very beginning of the Foundation. Mary Dunphy, first a volunteer guide and then a very active Board member, has been elected as our new President.
With Joan at the helm the dream surrounding a dilapidated stone building has become a recognized heritage centre welcoming thousands each summer (except this last one!).
Declining health led to a major change for George and Joan as they left the homestead in Grafton and moved to a retirement residence here in Cobourg. Thankfully Joan is able to continue to bring her knowledge and expertise to the Board as our one and only Past President!
Meet Ryan, Our New "Winter Student"
We were both surprised and pleased to hear that the Canada Summer Jobs program, which had rejected our summer application, was prepared to consider an application for a winter student. So we applied and this time were accepted!
Ryan, who lives in Port Hope, recently graduated from Humber College with an honours diploma in Film and Television Production. He’s looking to gain experience in that area and eventually make it his life calling. While Ryan is with us he will be doing regular clerical jobs as well as specialty tasks such as cataloguing all the books we have available for sale and helping prepare a website to market them. We also hope to offer some opportunities for him to use his creative skills with film.
If you call the Heritage Centre this winter, Tuesday to Thursday, you will probably be talking to Ryan.
Books and Gifts Available Online Soon?
The website on which we hope to make our gifts and books available for online shopping is being developed as part of Digital Main Street’s ShopHERE program powered by Google. The hope is to have it up and running before the end of the year, with books listed under the headings of Military, Cobourg & Vicinity, History and General.
ShopHERE provides the site and the guidance to get it up and running. The payment side is run by Square which we have long used to receive payments for gift shop sales and even memberships.
This will be a new venture for the Museum Foundation and we hope that our members and friends will take a look when we open and help get it off to a great start.
When the 2020 shutdown actually occurred most of the work of the Exhibit Team for that year’s exhibits had been completed. Since that theme, “The Heinous, the Heroic and the High Flyers” is now scheduled for 2021, the Team is already looking at 2022.
The subject of “Immigration” will be a challenging one. It is very broad but also very personal. The Team, which is headed up by Board member Al Seymour, will be looking for input from individuals with immigration stories and local organizations. The hope is that the exhibit will be as inclusive as possible and accessible to people of all backgrounds.
If you would like to help, please contact Al Seymour at the CMF email, info@cobourgmuseum.ca with the subject heading “Immigration”.
Many of you will be receiving, among all those other seasonal requests, your letter from us asking for your membership renewal. We do count on your contributions, and it is largely because of that support that our financial situation has so far survived these difficult times. Membership online is easy, using the “Donate Now’ button on our home page. Thank you, in advance!
If you are not already a member but would like to show your support in that way, the Membership Form can be printed from THIS LINK.
We hope to be in touch again before the year is out,
but in the meantime we wish you all
the very best over the holiday season
and a Very Merry Christmas!
