Coffee House and AGM

The St. James-Assiniboia Chapter of RTAM held a very successful Coffee House and AGM on September 12, 2018. Members visited and got caught up with each other while enjoying homemade apple crisp and ice cream, coffee/tea/water. Thank you to Marj, Lynn, and Shelley for making the crisp. Guitarist Armando led us in some singing. We elected our new executive.

James Bedford, MTS Vice President, was our invited guest. He brought greetings on behalf of the MTS. He updated us on the 100th Anniversary events planned for 2019 and encouraged us all to vote to support public education. We had door prizes and twenty retired teachers went home with a prize! Thanks you to Rudy, Linda, Marj and Lynn for the prizes. Thank you to the Executive for planning this event and to RTAM Provincial for the financial support. It was greatly appreciated. We are planning another Coffee House and AGM for next fall. 

Dorothy Young, St. James Assiniboia

Southwest Assiniboine Chapter . . . continued from page 15

acts came from Ukrainian communities all over Canada. The colourful costumes and dance steps were like a rainbow at time as they flew across the large stage. But wait, there would be more! To further demonstrate the cultural diversity of Canada, there were special performances by “The Asham Stompers” from Winnipeg, MB. These were a group of dancers of all ages who performed “a high energy jig and square dance.” Their mission is to recapture and preserve the history of the Metis people through the Red River Jig mixed with traditional square dance routines now known as the Red River Dance.” Once they hit the stage the floor boards were rumbling with rhythms as they performed group and individual dance sets. The crowd were elated by their dance steps and costumes and from the side of the main stage you could see the other dancers cheering them on with applause and cheers. They brought with them a very accomplished old time fiddler who did an 11 minute version of “Maple Sugar” and “Orange Blossom Special“ that the dancers burned up the stage with as the tempo got faster . All too soon, the day trip was over as we headed back to our welcomed air condition bus that tour organizer, Kel Smith, had arranged as we headed back through the beauty of Riding Mountain National Park. My day had started off at 6:00 a.m. and I got home by 10:00 p.m., but the long day was worth every moment with hundreds of photos and memories of some of the unique cultural events I had seen that day. We have so much in this country to be thankful for with our rich cultural mosiac, the way I see it! BUDMO!! (cheers in Ukrainian.)