.
Members ReMember
Share your favourite memory from any of VG4A's 15 year history. We’ll feature some here, some on Facebook, and keep them for our history
Send stories or photos to victoriagrandmothers4africa@gmail.com
Members ReMember
Share your favourite memory from any of VG4A's 15 year history. We’ll feature some here, some on Facebook, and keep them for our history
Send stories or photos to victoriagrandmothers4africa@gmail.com
Click to read Memory 1, Orleen: Textile Art Gala and Auction 2011
Click to read Memory 2, Lisbie:
African Grandmothers Gathering in Swaziland, 2010
African Grandmothers Gathering in Swaziland, 2010
Lisbie and Elizabeth before the Gathering
Click to read Memory 3, Cycle Tour Memories by four cyclists:
Mary Horton, Laurie Wilson, Whitney Laughlin and Norah Macey
Mary Horton, Laurie Wilson, Whitney Laughlin and Norah Macey
Click to read Memory 4: Jocelyn
My “Magical Mystery Tour of Africa”
My “Magical Mystery Tour of Africa”
Click to read Memory 5: Elizabeth Sebesta
My trip to Uganda and Tanzania
Click to read Memory 6: Orleen and Joan Wenman:
The Journey of a Scarf
The Journey of a Scarf
Click to read Memory 7: Orleen
The Rosemary Brown Award 2009 presented to BC Grandmother Groups
The Rosemary Brown Award 2009 presented to BC Grandmother Groups
Carry On Grannies and Victoria Grandmothers for Africa Merge
(Photo provided by Jocelyn Green of VG4A's Cycle Tour arriving back in Victoria with Carry On Grannies and others welcoming the riders)
Written by Anne Moon, read by Audrey Prendergast
Zoom General Meeting of VG4A
June 12, 2021
It is 15 years minus two months since the first Grandmothers' Gathering took place in Toronto -- igniting a spark that led to today ... an electronic merging of dozens of Victoria-area women, determined to help African Grandmothers raise their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren.
From the hugs of 2006, we now have to resort to Zoom, each on her screen -- but with the same purpose we pledged allegiance to back in 2006.
Several Victoria women were at that Gathering, and all came back to BC fired up. Somehow -- no one quite remembers how -- a group gathered in November in the Broadmead home of Diana Mitchell and decided to call themselves the Carry On Grannies, a vague nod to the British movie comedies of 40 years earlier.
At the same time another group, under the aegis of Carol Judd, started to meet. They were called Victoria Grandmothers for Africa.
Both groups counted heavily on food as a way to raise money. The Carry On Grannies treasured Jessie Lalonde, who baked muffins every Sunday to sell to parishioners at St. George's Anglican Church. The VG4A boasted of Elizabeth Rutherford, whose famous truffles were a magical money-maker.
On Nov. 17, 2006, Stephen Lewis visited Victoria and met us at the Yakimovich Centre — that was where the Carry on Grannies held their meetings for some time until they got too big for the room. That Christmas they started collecting pine cones and painting them gold, selling them in exchange for a donation. Some of us remember a meeting in a yurt, stumbling through the woods in the middle of nowhere to freeze in a felt tent.
In June, 2007, the Carry On Grannies held the first African Dinner and silent auction — this was at the Memorial Hall of St. John the Divine Anglican Church. By then the Anglicans had significant links to Carry on Grannies.
Stephen Lewis came back to Victoria later that year: This time he was accompanied by two African Grannies from Zambia. We had the $7,000 proceeds from the first bicycle ride organized by VG4A -- proudly presented by Spandex-clad members — and we raised a good sum of money through ticket sales to the accompanying concert.
In 2008 the cycle tour arrived to a triumphant Welcome Home in St. John’s parking lot, a tradition that continued for several years. There was another African dinner and silent auction that year, but we had outgrown St. John's and moved to First Met's hall. This was where Myrtle Schmidt's magic turned up, creating magnificent decorations. A large contingent of VG4A members attended and this perhaps lit the first spark of amalgamation talk.
A merger would also deal with such awkwardnesses as the time an African Dinner date clashed with a Scrabble fund-raiser. Someone recalls that it was Audrey Prendergast who introduced the motion for a merger, and that it was voted on at the Christmas “social” in 2008.
By 2009 it was official. High-profile events such as the African Dinner and the Island bike ride needed one firm administrative locus. We could be more effective as one group. But some of us still miss that cheeky name.
In the 15 years since we have been inspired by the African Grandmothers who came to Toronto for the Grandmothers Gathering and the 16th International AIDS conference, we have raised close to $1.5 million dollars in Victoria: We have cooked and sewn and knitted; we have bicycled and walked and danced. We have found new friends, learned new skills. So whether we began our association with the Foundation as a Carry on Granny or a VG4A member, for more than 12 years we've had one goal: we shall not rest until they can rest.
(Photo provided by Jocelyn Green of VG4A's Cycle Tour arriving back in Victoria with Carry On Grannies and others welcoming the riders)
Written by Anne Moon, read by Audrey Prendergast
Zoom General Meeting of VG4A
June 12, 2021
It is 15 years minus two months since the first Grandmothers' Gathering took place in Toronto -- igniting a spark that led to today ... an electronic merging of dozens of Victoria-area women, determined to help African Grandmothers raise their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren.
From the hugs of 2006, we now have to resort to Zoom, each on her screen -- but with the same purpose we pledged allegiance to back in 2006.
Several Victoria women were at that Gathering, and all came back to BC fired up. Somehow -- no one quite remembers how -- a group gathered in November in the Broadmead home of Diana Mitchell and decided to call themselves the Carry On Grannies, a vague nod to the British movie comedies of 40 years earlier.
At the same time another group, under the aegis of Carol Judd, started to meet. They were called Victoria Grandmothers for Africa.
Both groups counted heavily on food as a way to raise money. The Carry On Grannies treasured Jessie Lalonde, who baked muffins every Sunday to sell to parishioners at St. George's Anglican Church. The VG4A boasted of Elizabeth Rutherford, whose famous truffles were a magical money-maker.
On Nov. 17, 2006, Stephen Lewis visited Victoria and met us at the Yakimovich Centre — that was where the Carry on Grannies held their meetings for some time until they got too big for the room. That Christmas they started collecting pine cones and painting them gold, selling them in exchange for a donation. Some of us remember a meeting in a yurt, stumbling through the woods in the middle of nowhere to freeze in a felt tent.
In June, 2007, the Carry On Grannies held the first African Dinner and silent auction — this was at the Memorial Hall of St. John the Divine Anglican Church. By then the Anglicans had significant links to Carry on Grannies.
Stephen Lewis came back to Victoria later that year: This time he was accompanied by two African Grannies from Zambia. We had the $7,000 proceeds from the first bicycle ride organized by VG4A -- proudly presented by Spandex-clad members — and we raised a good sum of money through ticket sales to the accompanying concert.
In 2008 the cycle tour arrived to a triumphant Welcome Home in St. John’s parking lot, a tradition that continued for several years. There was another African dinner and silent auction that year, but we had outgrown St. John's and moved to First Met's hall. This was where Myrtle Schmidt's magic turned up, creating magnificent decorations. A large contingent of VG4A members attended and this perhaps lit the first spark of amalgamation talk.
A merger would also deal with such awkwardnesses as the time an African Dinner date clashed with a Scrabble fund-raiser. Someone recalls that it was Audrey Prendergast who introduced the motion for a merger, and that it was voted on at the Christmas “social” in 2008.
By 2009 it was official. High-profile events such as the African Dinner and the Island bike ride needed one firm administrative locus. We could be more effective as one group. But some of us still miss that cheeky name.
In the 15 years since we have been inspired by the African Grandmothers who came to Toronto for the Grandmothers Gathering and the 16th International AIDS conference, we have raised close to $1.5 million dollars in Victoria: We have cooked and sewn and knitted; we have bicycled and walked and danced. We have found new friends, learned new skills. So whether we began our association with the Foundation as a Carry on Granny or a VG4A member, for more than 12 years we've had one goal: we shall not rest until they can rest.
