Category Archives: Membership

Southern Yarn July/August 2025

Leave a reply

The Yarn is once again ready for your reading pleasure.

If I had a bucket list, it would now be one item shorter: I got to witness the “Toast to the Haggis”! This rare excitement came about while volunteering (mostly flipping pancakes) at the 57th Manitoba Highland Gathering last month in East Selkirk.

Selkirk is an apt choice for hosting this event as it was named for Lord Selkirk, who sponsored the Scottish settlers to the area in the early 1800s. [read more: www.lordselkirk.ca/the-settlers]. Congratulations to Margaret Walker and her team for pulling all the bits together that make the Gathering such a culturally significant event. It was fun and also an opportunity for Judy and me to make good use of our little Boler camper for its first outing this year.

In fact, the Selkirk campground was the perfect spot. One of the birding trails brought me within good range of a couple of good specimens – a great blue heron and a bald eagle (see p. 8).

Thanks again to those who contributed other articles of significance in this issue – Sam Dawson for the Club gathering at OEB (p. 1), Jenny Gates for our proud moment in the Legislature (p. 3), Michael Workman for the AFL report (p. 7), and everyone for our Club’s memories and reflections (p. 6).

Our advertisers are always appreciated and we hope you take advantage of their services whenever possible.

Yarn March-April 2025, plus Trivia

Leave a reply

The March-April issue of The Southern Yarn is ready for you in glorious full colour. Come check it out by clicking on the image of the front page, or perhaps you are one of our postal  subscribers, in which case you will be eagerly awaiting the swift delivery of the B&W version on distinctive yellow paper, by our venerable postal network.

As promised on page 5 of the newsletter, the answers (and JUST the answers)  to the trivia questions are below. Don’t look until you’ve tried to answer from the questions first.

Australia Trivia Answers

  1. Wombat
  2. Steven “Bradbury”
  3. “Harold Holt” Memorial Swimming Centre
  4. 1932
  5. Daintree Forest
  6. Hugh Jackman
  7. Macquarie Island
  8. Parkes, NSW
  9. 1974
  10. Neville Bonner
  11. Daryl Braithwaite
  12. Sydney Opera House
  13. Women first gained the right to vote in the Colony of South Australia in 1894
  14. Opal
  15. Platypus

New Zealand Trivia Answers 

  1. Green
  2. Edinburgh
  3. For Valour
  4. Xena
  5. Black Ferns (are one of the top women’s rugby teams in the world).
  6. Moas
  7. Peter Jackson (for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
  8. Rutherfordium
  9. Sir Russell Coutts
  10. Australian and Pacific
  11. 53
  12. Baldwin Street in Dunedin is the world’s steepest residential street a gradient of 1:2.86 at the steepest point.
  13. Lemon & Paeroa
  14. Adventure
  15. Blow on it

 

Yarn July August 2024

Leave a reply

The Southern Yarn for July-August 2024

24-Yarn_0708-JulyAug The Southern Yarn for July August is complete and posted here for your enjoyment. 

Here is the editorial to get you started:

I’m a bit too old and unfit for cricket these days, but there was a time when I, along with other younger and fitter fellow DUCW members, played and enjoyed the game at a competitive level. In the winter we played (and won the championship) indoors (with a tennis ball) and in the summer we played at Assiniboine Park. We had to stake out the boundary and peg a large mat down for the pitch. So, it is good to learn that an upgrade is in the works (see p.5) since there are now so many new Canadians, particularly from South Asia, who also want to continue enjoying their traditional sport.

With the Paris Olympics about to start, we will no doubt soon be cheering on and celebrating new heroes. Australia’s and New Zealand’s first Olympians get a mention on p. 4.

There is also more of our Club history (see p.6), thanks to Jenny Gates and our bird this month is the oriole. Thanks again to all our sponsors, contributors and advertisers.

Charlie

Yarn – Jan-Feb 2024

Leave a reply

24-Yarn_0102-JanFeb So, we’re into 2024 already, and The Yarn is right there, along for the ride with you.

The January-February edition is available now, and here is the Editorial to get you started:

Happy new year, Yarn readers! And it’s not just a new year, it’s also the Club’s 75th! That’s quite an achievement for a little outpost here in the middle of North America, eh?! Talk about the “Aussie/Kiwi battler” – the DUCW exemplifies just such a character. And this little Southern Yarn gazette plays a not so insignificant part in the battle to stay alive and relevant ‘midst the constant bombardment of alt-media’s missiles, mortar and manipulations.

So, if you value these 8 pages in your inbox or mailbox every couple of months, please heed Catherine’s renewal reminder (p.1). Where else does one find such concise and concentrated downunder content? This edition, again, is a typical example – there’s Club and member news, book reviews, bird views, OZ and NZ news – you choose.

Since there likely would not be a DUCW if it weren’t for the BCATP, it gets another prominent mention (p.6). The humble but joyful little canary gets the honour of first bird “viewed” this year (p.8).

Huge thanks again to Jenny, Peter, Judy, Catherine, advertisers, Brian, et al.