Carlington Remembrance and Renewal Event

 

 

On May 24, 2009, a parade and exhibition was held to honour the veterans and, in particular, to highlight the role of those who lived in and developed the Carlington community after World War II.

A parade route from Harrold Place to W.E. Gowling Public School on Anna Avenue was lined with people of all ages to pay tribute to those who represented our country and community in conflicts occurring overseas.

The event included a flypast of two vintage aircrafts, a P-51 Mustang and a Vought F4U, as well as vintage automobiles taking part in the parade.

A detailed account of the planning and highlights of the event is available below.

WWII display
WWI aircraft fly-by
Ottawa War Museum displays
Vivian Chih of CMHC & newspaper display
Vets' Housing Display
Special Flags
Red Ensign
View of parade

Photo by Nicole Peskett.

View of parade

Photo by Nicole Peskett.

View of parade

Photo by Nicole Peskett.

View of parade

View of parade

Piper
Parading Vets
Parade on Anna Avenue
.
Parade Marshall
Old days remembered
Momentos
Model A Ford
Entering W.E. Gowling Gymnasium
Good conversations
Full house
View from the stage
Community participants
Colour party
Colour party and vets
Colour party and school trustee Riley Brockington
CCA banner
Carlington summit
Carlington heritage display
Cards for vets
W.E. Gowling Public School
1950 Studebaker

Remembrance and Renewal, Part One: The Parade and entrance into W.E. Gowling Public School

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyml6TaNuvI
The first of three video reports on the Carlington May 26, 2009, Remembrance and Renewal event. This was a parade and an indoor presentation to celebrate the Veterans’ Homes in Carlington and the contribution that Canada’s Veterans have made to their country.

Remembrance and Renewal, Part Two: Speech by Jeanne Burgess

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=punAudRcZDs

A brief history of Carlington along with many historical pictures. The second of three video reports on the Carlington May 26, 2009, Remembrance and Renewal event. This was a parade and an indoor presentation to celebrate the Veterans Homes in Carlington and the contribution that Canada’s Veterans have made to their country.

Remembrance and Renewal Part Three: Speech by Riley Brockington and Michael Kostiuk

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5_f5lRTous

Description of Vivian Chih’s presentation about the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Equilibrium Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative: The Now House. The Now House is a project to transform Veteran’s homes into energy efficient homes that produce almost as much energy as they consume. The third of three video reports on the Carlington May 26, 2009, Remembance and Renewal event. This was a parade and an indoor presentation to celebrate the Veterans Homes in Carlington and the contribution that Canada’s Veterans have made to their country

Carlington Veteran’s Parade. May 24, 2009

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzCB0d4KI5E

This is not a Carlington E-News video, but it was posted on YouTube by an Ottawa resident (edpzz ) and is included here since it shows some scenes not shown before.

Copies of these videos are on a DVD that was supplied with this final report. Copies of many photographs are also included in the DVD. As well, a copy in WORD format of this final report is also in the DVD.

New War Memorial Needed for Carlington!

We located the plaque that was once on the memorial that was located on the top of Memorial Heights (now known as the Carlington Reservoir). The plaque is now fixed to the exterior of the Westboro Legion on Richmond Road. Therefore, we decided that the Carlington needs a new war Memorial. The triangle at the intersection of Merivale Road and Carling Avenue could be an ideal location since it is a gateway intersection to our community.

Estimates for Parade and Indoor Event Participation

Many people both watched the parade and entered the gymnasium at W.E. Gowling for the presentations. Other people just watched the parade and the flypast, and some came just for the indoor presentations. I would estimate the number of people watching the parade from 600 to perhaps 900. The gymnasium holds 300 people and it was full of people of all ages, with some even standing in the back doorway.
There were many veterans and former residents of the veteran’s homes in attendance. Most did not wear any uniforms. The display table for the War Museum artefacts was very popular and many young people had an opportunity to see and touch the military items.
A list of the people and organizations that made this event a success:

  • Royal Canadian Legion – Westboro Branch 480
  • Ottawa Carleton District School Board, especially Trustee Riley Brockington and principal Brian Begbie.
  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • M.P. Paul Dewar
  • M.P.P.s Yasir Naqvi and Jim Watson
  • Work Worth Doing and the Now House Project
  • Vintage Wings of Canada
  • Canada’s Capital A’s
  • City of Ottawa
  • Special thanks to the City of Ottawa Archives personnel who helped us find so much of the History about Carlington.
  • Ottawa Police and councilor McRae’s Office.
  • Canadian War Museum
  • W.E. Gowling Public School
  • The local media who ran stories and interviews about our event: CFRA, the CBC and the Ottawa Citizen
  • Members of the Carlington Community Association who took part in the planning and operation of this event.

After the event, our community association received emails, letters and phone messages from former Carlington residents as far away as Montréal, Quebec and England. Apparent they had read about the event on the Internet or in newspapers in their locations.

All in all, the Carlington Remembrance and Renewal Event was a great success and it helped raise the profile of our community throughout the Ottawa area.

hjhkjhkjh

Carlington Remembrance and Renewal Event
May 24, 2009
Submitted by Michael Kostiuk, President, Carlington Community Association

Planning for the Carlington Community Association’s main event of the year “Remembrance and Renewal” officially took place at our September 2008 association meeting. Jim Wiles from the Royal Canadian Legion kindly agreed to advise us on plans for the Veteran’s Ceremony in May of 2009. Jim suggested a day in the later part of May 2009 as being most practical. It would be necessary to obtain a parade permit from the City at least six weeks before the event. The parade permit arrived only two days before the event even though we sent in the application back in November of 2008. On top of receiving the permit only two days before the event, we were also informed that the permit also would not have be granted unless we could show proof of liability insurance. Luckily for us, our community association had already purchased liability insurance for the event several weeks previous to the event so this last minute requirement was not a problem (but it could have been).

Our intention was to honour the veterans and, in particular, to highlight the role of those who lived in and developed the Carlington community after World War II. This would be connected with information on the “Veteran Houses” which make up a large segment of Carlington and tie in with CMHC’s initiative the “Now House”. We also mentioned our missing War Memorial (from the top of the Carlington Reservoir) and our efforts to find or replace it, preferably in the triangle at the corner of Merivale and Carling.

A date of May 24 was chosen, as was the parade route from Harold Place to W.E. Gowling School on Anna Avenue. A longer parade route from the Carling/Merivale triangle was considered, but rejected as it was considered too far a march to W.E. Gowling School for the aging veterans.

Mr. Wiles also asked that, while we should invite the local politicians to attend the event, it was important that they not be asked to speak since the focus was to be on the veterans. It later turned out that the Ottawa Carleton District School Board no longer allows Sunday use of it school properties. However, Riley Brockington, the School Board Trustee for River Ward, convinced the School Board to make a special exemption on our part. At a later date, we asked if Riley could act as Master of Ceremonies for the event and he whole heartily agreed. Brian Begbie of W.E. Gowling School was also very interested in the project and he was delighted to host the event, as it was a good example of the school and the community working together. It was also a good learning experience for the students at the school.

As the planning progressed CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) agreed to send a representative, Ms. Vivian Chih, to speak at our event.

David Darwin managed the itinerary of the indoor and outdoor portions of the event and he also arranged for vintage automobiles to take part in the parade as well as attracting additional displays.

A request to have a historic World War II fighter perform a flypast was unanimously accepted by the Board of Vintage Wings in Gatineau. It turned out that this flypast was not free and since our association’s bank account was limited, I decided on my own to cover the cost of the aircraft flypast. Vintage Wings actually sent two aircraft for the flypast since one aircraft was on its way back to Ottawa and it joined the scheduled aircraft for a two-plane flypast. The aircraft were a P-51 Mustang and a Vought F4U Corsair.

Many people and organizations helped make this event a huge success. People lined the parade route from Harrold Place to W.E. Gowling School where the gymnasium was completely full of people of all ages.

This project was an example of a multidisciplinary approach to planning an event. The theme of Remembrance and Renewal looked both forward and backwards and tied the present to both. An event such as this gives the community a sense of identity that has been lacking in the recent decades and was noted in last year’s community survey by the University of Ottawa.

We had many positive news reports on the event including David Darwin being interviewed on Ottawa’s top News radio Station CFRA, and Michael Kostiuk being interviewed on CBC Radio. News reports were also printed in the EMC News and the Ottawa Citizen.

Copies of these news items are included with this final report.