DAILY ORDERS

  SHIP IN HARBOR

DATE:  November 19th. 2006

REUNION

    Well another reunion has come and gone. What a great time we all had judging from your cards, emails, and letters. It makes all the hard work worthwhile knowing everyone enjoyed themselves. The weather held out for us until the outdoor ceremonies were over.

 At the General meeting it was decided that I would remain as Secretary for another term and George Sinkins would take over as Treasurer. George was on our committee for the reunion and did commendable work. I look forward to his input.

 It was also decided that the MEMBERSHIP FEES WILL BE INCREASED TO $20.00 FOR TWO YEARS. The cost of printing, stamps and envelopes keeps increasing and it becomes very costly putting out the “Signal”. This increase will hopefully help cover the cost. Any members who have already sent $10.00 for dues for 2006 - 2008, please forward the remaining $10.00 to make payment complete.

 The next reunion will be held in Charlottetown P.E.I. and the Chairman of the reunion will be Fred Bradley of Charlottetown. We are already looking forward to it. I along with George Sinkins, the treasurer and a great shipmate Rolie Leduc will continue to try to encour­age new members to join.

 Rolie Leduc has a website for HMCS Uganda Quebec up and running and is looking for input. He has done a great job so far and will continue to do so with a little help from all members, submitting letters, jokes, histo­ry and stories of your days onboard. The website is WWW.HMCSUGANDAQUEBEC.COM. If you don’t have a computer forward these stories to me and I will make sure Rolie receives them.

 During the reunion I never had any time to sit and talk to you and I am sorry but I was kept very busy keeping things running smoothly. I must say comments from Flannigan and Leduc kept the members laughing.

 The Mayor of Lindsay said it was a great gathering and that many people could learn from the camaraderie of the members. The dignitaries kept the speeches short and abided by the five minute limit that was given them. Cal Callebert was a very good Parade Marshall and moved the parade from A to Z in good time.

Lt. Hampton Gray’s sister was able to come in from West Vancouver and it was good to talk to her, along with her family. We have received a nice thank you card from her daughter saying that they all felt very comfortable and special at the reunion.

It was wonderful to see Vice Admiral Ralph Hennessy and his wife Diana, at the reunion. They were both very gracious and Vice Admiral Hennessy laid a wreath on behalf of HMCS Uganda and HMCS Quebec Veterans Association.

 I have a tape of the parade and the laying of wreaths that Cogeco Television made and ran on television for 5 nights. I have inquired around to many companies to see how much it would cost to transfer it from VHS to DVD. The best price I could get was $50.00 for the first transfer and $15.00 for each additional DVD. If anyone is interested let me know and I will look fur­ther into it.

 Katie Munshaw sang “The Traveling Soldier” during the church service and did a tremendous job for an eleven year old and she also dedicated a hymn “Amazing Grace” to the Gray family which brought tears to their eyes. We also bad a youth group who sang two hymns at the church service and were very good also.

Everything seemed to fall in place on the bus tour. Johnny and Daniel still claim that their bus #1 had the most fun. The boys will remember this reunion for a long time to come.

The world largest lift lock actually operated to let vessels through and enabled the members to see first hand operation in place. Then on to Peterborough Naval Club for lunch. They were prepared for us with hot dogs, hamburgers and sandwiches and our members were shown around the naval Club of which I am a member. When we left there it was on to Lang Pioneer Village. It was a long and eventful day and we rolled back into Lindsay at approx. 4.30 pm, where we were able to get a couple of down time before dinner.

 The meals were delicious on Friday night and Saturday night (with the exception of one tray of scalloped potatoes which were a little hard). The Silent Auction which ran for three days, Thursday thru Saturday, was a success and helped to cover some of the extra expenses of the reunion

 Carol, my wife, is once again helping me with the email correspondence and the typing of the “Signal”. Please pray for our health so we can continue to put together a newsy and fun newsletter and send us by mail or email any information that would be of interest to other members so we can include it also.

Now on to saving for the trip to Charlottetown in 2008.    Tom Burns

 NOTE: We are sorry for the delay in sending you this report as the snail mail is slow in getting to the Sunshine State. Another report in a month or so regarding the Navy Cruise we made a couple years back. The pictures finally showed up.

ONCE A CHIEF ALWAYS A CHIEF