Village Squire, 1975-03, Page 10The story of two oak trees
BY MRS. G. M. TAYLOR
Big Oaks from little acorns grow. This is an
old saying, but proof that it is still true can be
seen growing in the school grounds in Blyth.
This story began in 1939. In that year King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured
Canada. At every stop the. Royal Train made
on this tour great crowds greeted them.
Parents were anxious that their school age
children should see them. The great interest
shown by the children won the hearts of the
Royal Visitors, so much so, that acorns from
the oak trees growing in the Royal Grounds at
Westminster, England, were promised to be
sent to the schools according to the number of
pupils attending each school, also saplings
were promised.
The promised acorns, five in number,
arrived at Blyth with instructions for starting
and care of same. Instructions were to start
each acorn in a small container, with only a
small amount of water, keep moist and in the
sunlight. Each acorn was started in an egg
cup. In a short time two began to show signs
of growth. The other three made no such
signs. Early the following year saplings,
either one or two, arrived at Blyth.
In those years the 24th of May was always
cdlebrated on the 24th, not a week earlier, nor
a week later. I remember that year the 24th
was on a Monday. Mr. Jim Huckstep, the
town barber for many years in Blyth was also
a great lover of horticultural work. He with
some of the councillors, carrying a shovel and
pail of water, took the saplings to the
Memorial Hall grounds and planted them.
They then took the two seedlings, which by
this time had grown t� 10 or 12 inches in
height, to the school grounds and planted
them also. Oh, they seemed so small to be out
on their own, but with protection around each
one they managed to come right along.
Because they had plenty of room to grow
they are now two beautiful trees. I admit
was very pleased and excited when the first
signs of life began to show in each of the two
acorns. 1 ga've them my very best care and
feel,'when 1 look at the trees that I have been,
well repaid for my labors. I still believe that
only God can make a tree.
Perhaps there are some who have never
heard the story of the two Royal Oak Trees.
They are growing on the North West corner of
the Blyth school grounds.
The writer of this article lived in and
around Blyth all her life until 1950 when she
moved to Goderich. There are many beautiful
trees in Goderich too, but none so special_ to
the writer as the two Oak Trees that began
life in egg cups 0
Naked
Miner's Festival in Colbalt) where it played from Port aux Choix
to the Arts and Culture Centre in St. Johns. A television version
was also made and a radio version was scheduled for taping in
late February.
Johns sees the play as a way of getting audiences in southern
Canada to know a little more about what life is like in the isolated
areas of the north. The village is extremely isolated with no
police, no church, no telephones, no hydro, no road, no stores, no
skidoo.
The show includes portraits and actual words of the people who
live there and shows how they make their living and their
opinions of the government, the "outside", the church, their past
and their future. Sections of the play deal with their parties (a
sports day), their adventures in the "putside" (i.e. Ontario) and
the difficulties of Johns, as an outsider from the south trying to
adjust to the north. Some of the parts of the play are quite
serious, some funny, and some involve songs.
The title doesn't denote a porno play, but rather refers to the
way the people of the little village are exposed to and are at the
mercy of the elements of land, sea and harsh climate of Labrador
and to the tremendous strength of character with which they have
responded to their difficult situation.
The only aid Johns receives in his performances is from
Norman Rice, an accordian player from , White Bay,
Newfoundland.
Although the tbur schedule for Naked on the North Shore
conflicted with that for Dave Broadfoot's Take A Beaver To
Lunch, (it played before Broadfoot in Listowel but will be after in
Blyth) Johns says there is no rivalry intended. He says he's seen
the Broadfoot show and enjoyed it and admires Broadfoot as an
actor. He wishes that more Toronto Theatres would have "the
intestinal fortitude" to reach out to the audiences of southern
Ontario.
The show has already played in ,Listowel (February 27-28),
Brussels, (March 2) and will play in Memorial Hall, Blyth on
Sunday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m 0
8, VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1975
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Village Squire, Box 10, Blyth or
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