Show & Tell night at The Spec

This Thursday is shaping up to be a fabulous evening at The Hamilton Memory Project "Show & Tell" Open Forum. The idea is for people to search their attics and bring in interesting collectibles and memorabilia items from Hamilton's past that our experts can assess and maybe value. If you have something you would like to bring in please call 905-526-3313. If you just would like to come to watch or ask questions, you need to reserve a spot by calling 905-526-3535.
Margaret Houghton from the Hamilton Public Library is bringing in a sample of weird and wonderful items from the backrooms of Special Collections. The Spectator has a magnificent collection of Frank Panabaker paintings about Hamilton which will be on display.
And the star of the night will be the Westdale graduation ring that belonged RCAF airman Cyril Ridgers, who died in a Lancaster crash in Feb., 1944. The ring was reunited with his family in an emotional ceremony in Germany last week.
Think of it as a Hamilton Antique Roadshow, but we aren't going on the road with it.

Mark

Details:
Thursday March 30 7 pm to 8.30 pm
Hamilton Memory Project Show & Tell Open Forum
The Hamilton Spectator Auditorium
44 Frid Street
Hamilton
Reservation line 905-526-3535
The Open Forum will be live on Cable 14

Comments

[Ken Wilkinson]

We have been following the story of Cy Ridger's ring on the internet from Iowa, finding it interesting and emotional. My father, Bill Wilkinson, founder of Wilkinson Heavy Precast which was formerly on Clappison's Cut and is now in Dundas, was born in 1917 in Westdale. My dad graduated with Cy from Westdale high School as best friends. Cy was constantly with my dad through out the years when Dad was dating his future wife and my mother, Ruth Goodbrand. Cy was best man at their wedding in 1940, where he secretly told the bride that she was marrying the wrong man. My Dad also joined the airforce in the second world war, but stayed in Canada to train fighter pilots in simulated planes. Dad passed away in 1984. Today, March 31, my mother, Ruth Wilkinson flys back from the winter in Florida to her condo in Burlington. She still has in her possession about 30 letters that Cy wrote from England. His picture still sits in a silver frame in her living room. After Cy's death every Christmas Eve our family, which included four boisterous sons, went to visit his parents. Cy's mother always cried.
Just reading the stories in the Spec brings tears. Thanks, Ken Wilkinson