Camp Tawingo was well-representedat the International Camping Congressheld in Quebec this past October. It was amagnificent gathering hosted by theQuebec Camping Association and sup-ported by both the Canadian CampingAssociation and the InternationalCamping Fellowship. The ICFHeadquarters is based at Camp Tawingoand John Jorgenson (Jorgi) serves on itsSteering Committee.

This was the eighth Congress of itsnature and Camp Tawingo has been activeand instrumental in virtually all of them.The third Congress KUMBAYAH 1994was held in Toronto under the guidance ofJane McCutcheon as Chair and both JackPearse and John Jorgenson on that SteeringCommittee. Since then, this premier inter-national camping event has moved toRussia, Japan, Australia and Mexico beforereturning to Canada.

This year over 600 delegates assembledin Quebec for four days of education, cele-bration and fellowship. One hundredRussian camp leaders were part of theCongress and delegates came from all sixcontinents to represent a huge diversity ofcamping programs.

The Congress was held in conjunction

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WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

On the evening of Saturday, November22, 2008, seventeen members of theTawingo Alumni Circle gathered in theBlue Room to talk about events and waysto celebrate fifty years of Camp Tawingoon the shores of Lake Vernon. We werewatching a DVD video, produced by TomKnowlton, of the International CampingCongress in Quebec City. Tawingo waswell represented by Jack and The BoysCamp Band (see article on this page). Jackand The Boys Camp Band were leading thegroup in song. The song they were singingwas "We Can Make a Difference."

It got me to thinking about being atCamp in the sixties and singing some of thetopical songs of the time - songs by BobDylan, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Peter,Paul and Mary. I particularly rememberleading an all Camp sing song in the PopPearse Lodge.... We Shall Overcome! Fortyfive years later an African American,

Barack Obama is preparing to sit in theOval Office of the White House.

Maybe it is true, we can make a differ-ence. For the last dozen years or so, TAChas been raising funds to send youth tocamp. Children who, for various reasons,can benefit from the experience that iscamping. Over that period of time manychildren have been able to attend Tawingoas a result of our Summer Camp FUNd.We know that these experiences havechanged the lives of these children in ameaningful way.

As it happens, the very first child to besponsored at Camp was referred bymyself. The child faced some serious chal-lenges in life, some of which were sharedby his parents and three siblings. I havepersonally observed the impact of theCamp experience on his struggle withthese challenges.

Today, as a young adult, he is enjoying

TT HEHE OO F F I C I A LF F I C I A L NN E W S L E T T E RE W S L E T T E R OFOF T H ET H E TT A W I N G OA W I N G O AA L U M N IL U M N I CC I R C L EI R C L E

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I C C Q U E B E C 2 0 0 8I N L I V I N G C O L O U R

THE INSIDE SCOOP

TIME PASSAGES AND HOKAHEY

CAMP MATTERS:

ERICA VANDENBERG MILLS

JILL HAWCO & MEGAN BIRK

SIMON ROSE

JESSE GRIFFITHS

DRAGONBOAT 2008

CAMP STORIES

F R O M T H E T A C C H A I RK R I S B I R C H A R D

...continued on back page

with an even larger Conference hosted byWorld Leisure.

Amongst the many links to Tawingoalumni:

Jack and Mike Pearse lead singing at aGeneral Session

The Boys Camp Band (Tom Knowlton, JimKnowlton, Peter Rasberry, Mark Baldwin)and Joanne Bender accompany the songleaders

Buffy Knowlton, Martha Knowlton andJenna Larman, Barb Jorgenson attend theCongress along with...

Mike Pearse, Tia Pearse and JohnJorgenson who all lead educational sessions

Mike, (Tom K) Bobby Crowe and TJ Clarkall lead singing at a second GeneralSession.

Marie Helene Bergeron works as coordina-tor of all of the General Sessions on behalf ofthe Congress committee

Tom Knowlton shoots, edits and producesboth a banquet slide show and a 15 minutevideo film of the ICC

The Congress was preceded by anational tour of camping programs. Itallowed camp leaders from other countriesan opportunity to acclimatize to our timezones, enjoy some sightseeing and partici-pate in a study tour. The tour rolledthrough Camp Tawingo and we were ableto greet camp leaders from Greece,Australia, Turkey and elsewhere inCanada.

The International Camping Congresshas been a tremendously effective andimportant organization that both spreadsthe camping word to previously unorgan-ized camping regions and validates thework going on in other countries.

We have enjoyed, and been enrichedby, our international campers for the entirehistory of Camp Tawingo. CampTawingo’s involvement with the ICF hasresulted in further enrichment with currentstaff attending various Congresses, otherICF camps arranging delegations to attendsessions of summer Camp at Tawingo, andopportunities for our staff & campers tovisit camping professionals the world over.

For more information about theInternational Camping Fellowship, as wellas some photos from the Congress, and anon-line version of Tom’s magnificent videoproduction, check out the ICF website atwww.campingfellowship.org.

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Jack Pearse was not present in Mexico where he was first presented with ICF’s highest award: The Abbott Fenn DruzhbaAward. In Quebec, he was able to receive it in person and address the Congress.

It was an opportunity for all kinds of reunions. Here Joanne Bender and Marie Helene Bergeron take an opportunity tocatch up on news with Jack.

The Pre-Congress tour included an opportunity to visit Camp Tawingo. This group of camp leaders includes delegatesfrom Greece, Turkey, Ontario, Manitoba, and Australia.

A very special group of alumni gathered for the 2008Dragonboat Festival. We had more paddlers than ever before andwe were thrilled by their willingness to endure rain and cold topaddle the Tranquil Raven dragonboat. It was a very differentexperience from our usual hot, sunny day in and on the water.

We had so many paddlers and reserves this year that we wereable to adjust the team in various races and provide some peoplewith a warm-up break from a rainy race heat. We were especiallypleased to welcome various non-alumni spouses and partnerswho added their own energy and enthusiasm. Little BenZymerman provided us with a youthful mascot/cheerleader.

The Dragonboat Team makes a collection each year and thisyear we donated a total of $340.00 to the Summer Camp FUNd forcampers. The Tawingo Alumni Circle is very grateful for this gen-erous support.

This year’s Tranquil Raven team ran in second place in allthree of its race heats to the LIT Team of Arrowhead Camp. Somereaders will know that Arrowhead Camp is owned and operatedby Tawingo alumni, Pat and Becca Birnie. It was a little difficult toaccept three defeats from the ‘youngsters’ from another Camp. Welodged a protest and the results of the Drug Screen are now in - itappears they were deeply affected by some crazy drug with thestreet name of "CAMP". Unfortunately, the results stand in theirpresent form and we must satisfy ourselves with our ‘great effort’rather than our ‘big win’.

Over these past four years, we have used official TranquilRaven shirts. This year, we decided to try different outfits - staffshirts from various eras. Many years of Tawingo camping wererepresented (somewhat soggily) in this year’s dragonboat. Thisyear’s paddlers are listed below:

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D R A G O N B O A T R A C E T E A M 2 0 0 9A L L T O G E T H E R - A L L W E T

Sara Rowbotham

Jennine Dionne

Katie Knowlton

Will House

Jenna Larman

Jill (Hawco) Currie

Jay Currie

Emily (Singh) Zymerman

Dave Zymerman

Jon Ross

Laura (Simon) Ross

Lauren Hopkinson

Lauren Calder

Mike Costello

Kalie Boot

Tabetha Boot

Jamie MacDonald

Dave Richardson

Tyler Lalonde

Peter Glen

Erin May

Carson McGregor

Andrea Webber

Mark Boot

Dianne Boot

Paige Thompson

Kailey Paddison

John Jorgenson

Carly Cooper-Edwards

As I look forward to the big 50th celebra-tion of Camp Tawingo in 2010, I can't helpbut reflect on all of my memories of camp,camp friends, and everything Tawingo hasbrought to my life.

I was only a wee blondie when I startedat camp, and my earliest memories are ofcostumed counsellors, nightly calamineruns to the health centre, my joy of seeing astatue in our window (signifying a Hermanvictory), and endless singing, dancing andwalking arm and arm with all of my newbest friends.

After several memorable summers, I tookmany years off from Tawingo to experi-ence international camping in Holland,and to spend summers of travelling andcottaging with my family. I returned to theDowanewa circle for my last eligible sum-mer as a camper in 1994. I brought my dearfriend Ellie with me, and got to share herjoy as she experienced her first sing-song,out trip , and feelings of friendship and sol-idarity with cabin-mates.

Unfortunately I had a broken arm duringthat last session and was unable to com-plete fox canoeing, attain my crest, andtherefore could not become a TLC . But thatdidn't stop my love affair with the yellowand blue.

During the spring of my 18th year, Iapplied to camp with a glimmer of hope tobe chosen as a staff member.

As summer approached, I was offered anincredible opportunity to work in Japan forthe summer. I would have earned a greatdeal of money and had an incredible expe-

rience overseas, but after a meeting withJack Pearse, and receiving a job offer fromTawingo, my mind was made up...and myparents were thrilled.

I spent the following two years as a coun-sellor and the two subsequent years as thecraft director. Those memories are some ofthe dearest of my life, and I truly believethat I wouldn't be the person I am todaywithout my camp experience.

On the shores of Lake Vernon not onlydid I learn how to make bannock, to chantnative songs, to put up a tent and to getover my shyness, but I learned the value ofoptimism, creativity, play, and a love forfriends, neighbours and life.

This spirit has stayed with me and is con-stant in my daily life.

As an adult I've had the great fortune ofmarrying my perfect match and startingmy dream business. Craig and I were mar-ried in Muskoka in 2005 and our zest forlife together was evident as we arrived atour wedding reception on waterskis.

I own and operate a greeting card com-pany called warm fuzz cards,(www.warmfuzzcards.com) which isabsolutely a delight for me. The dreamcame into fruition whilst living with Craigabroad in Russia, Sweden, and thenFrance. I used my time away to draw and

to create inspiring designs/messages forcards that can be used for any or no reason.The premises behind warm fuzz are to 'cel-ebrate the art of giving' and to focus onhow good it feels to brighten people's days-true Tawingo philosophies. I feel that mycompany and my cards illustrate a joy Ilearned through both my loving family,and the postive environment at camp.

My company has evolved over the yearsto include custom corporate cards, wed-ding and event invitations and personal-ized stationery, and I couldn't be happierwith my Trapper Pete-esque line of work.

We live in the Danforth area of Toronto,but spend any chance we can up North atour cottages, planning getaways, and visit-ing camp whenever possible. Craig hasstayed at camp on several occasions andhas learned over the years what a truly spe-cial place it is. I feel like he is now a part ofthe Tawingo tribe as I have heard himchant a 'wa-tay-ho' or two. We see ourwide circle of Tawingo friends regularily,and it never ceases to amaze us both howpositive, non-judgmental, fun, and lovingour camp friends are-a true testament tothe values and spirit of camp.

Tawingo continues to be a huge part ofmy life and I couldn't be more appreciativefor the times spent there, and the relation-ships that have been fostered as a result ofshared camp experiences. I am really look-ing forward to re-connecting with oldfriends at the reunion in 2010, and celebrat-ing all that makes Tawingo so special to allof us.

Grateful am I.

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C A M P M A T T E R S : R E - C O N N E C T I O N A N D R E F L E C T I O NW E T R A C K E D D O W N E R I C A ( V A N D E N B E R G ) M I L L S A N D A S K E D : " W H E R E A R E Y O U N O W A N D H O W D I D C A M P H E L P Y O U G E T T H E R E ? "

Krista Barclay and Erica became good friends at Camp andtheir friendship continues to this day.

Craig understands the importance of Erica’s Camp connec-tions and is becoming ‘part of the Tawingo Nation’.

It is hard for me to believe that it has beenten summers since I retired from activeduty at Tawingo. I retired the same sum-mer as the legendary Juwan C. Delfin, aman I consider a brother. It is the lifelongfriendships (and Facebook) that don'tmake it seem that my Camp life was thatlong ago - even though I'm a few provincesaway from Huntsville (living on the B.C.coast) I've had lots of Tawingo friendscome out to visit and likewise been able tomake travel plans based on where myfriends are in various parts of the world.My wife, Cristina, loves everyone she's metfrom Tawingo and the silent pact that hasbeen agreed to by the Tawingo AlumniCircle not to share embarrassing storieswith non-alumni spouses has been greatlyappreciated!

Looking back on ten years, not much haschanged. I work for a B.C. resort develop-ment and management company(www.aviawest.com) - that is a familybusiness owned by the Pearsons. My walkto work is along the waterfront but insteadof canoes coming in for breakfast, there aresea-planes coming in for meetings. Thebuzzwords I use to describe my job - peo-ple strategy, employee engagement, lead-ership development - are all things I wasfirst exposed to as a Circle Director, work-ing with the TLCs or in the Programdepartment. Occasionally I need to dosome "conflict resolution". I'm sure someof you can relate and identify those forty-year old Cree campers who are about to

duke it out in your own organizations...

If any current Tawingo staff are willingto take advice from the 1990s (… and withall the old photos of flannel-clad Boys'camp and the "Rachel" look in Girls' CampI can't blame them if they don't), I wouldencourage you to work at Tawingo for aslong as you can. In my career so far, I candefinitively say that I use more today fromwhat I learned at Camp than from the workI have done in banking or consulting.

Three of the prime examples that springto mind are…

HOW TO GENERATE REPEAT BUSINESS

In the current business environment,many new managers have to sit through aday-long seminar on "Happy Staff equalHappy Customers". That sage wisdom onrepeat business was shared with me by my

first section director, Matt Perkins in 1992in one sentence - ‘If your Counsellors arehappy, your campers will be happy.’Simple and true - there is not a book by aleadership guru out there that has hadmore impact on me than the philosophicalleanings of this wise man and favouredcamp leader.

THE TEAM CONCEPT

Although he was a peer from my TLCyear and my friend since we were twoyears of age, I have a great respect for RichButler's sermons to Boys' Camp in the mid-1990s on the principles of the TeamConcept. I feel he showed a preternaturalclairvoyance as to the path that modernbusiness would steer in the 21st century.Being able to work closely within a team isa real skill and Butler's belief that "Successfor one means Success for all" has nevercarried more weight.

RESPECT YOUR ELDERS

Juwan Delfin and I lived in Cabin #72 inour last summer at Tawingo and I think itis fair to say that we are both community-minded people. We used to host ‘meet-ings’ in our cabin with other non-cons atthe time about striving to do your best. AYoda-like Doug Palm, the elder statesmanof the group, was very quiet in the earlygoing but towards the time the schedule ofmeetings had ended, he had really foundhis groove and taught us all a thing or two.

Those are just three examples that springto mind. If my nine-month old son Mateoslept through the night, my brain might beable to put more of these examples downhere. I hope this finds you well and if youare ever out to my part of the world andcan agree to the silent pact, give me ashout.

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Spring Crew 1985 included Steve Ernst, Carey Heeney, Marcie Adler, Stephanie Joyce, Paul Joliat, Matt Perkins, NealGilmer, Jesse Everett, Ingrid Ambus, Doug Palm, Leah Watson, Neil Fortin, Stu Fraser, Rich Butler, Karen Atkinson.

C A M P M A T T E R S : R E - C O N N E C T I O N A N D R E F L E C T I O NW E T R A C K E D D O W N S I M O N R O S E A N D A S K E D : " W H E R E A R E Y O U N O W A N D H O W D I D C A M P H E L P Y O U G E T T H E R E ? "

Rich Butler, John ‘Juwan’ Delfin and Simon ‘Gene Simmons’ Rose ready for a day of Spring Work Crew.

"Hi, I'm Jill Hawco. Welcome to Ojibwa,Cabin 35. I'll be your counsellor this ses-sion". "Hi, I'm Megan, I'm in your cabin".

That's how it all started back in1995…who knew that such a simple con-nection made at Tawingo would turn into alifelong friendship. Below is the intertwin-ing story of one camper, one counsellorand where the strong connections made atTawingo have brought them to today.

After a great summer in Ojibwa, Meganand Jill parted ways heading back toMarkham where they both happened tolive. That September, Jill started her OACyear, and Megan was in 9th grade at thesame high school. They touched base everynow and then, reminiscing about the amaz-ing times they had together at Tawingo. Jillgraduated high school and headed toAcadia University to complete a degree inRecreation Management. In that time,Megan finished high school and was tryingto decide which university to attend. Aftercalling Jill and discussing her options,Megan was convinced by Jill to attendAcadia University and better yet, enrol inthe same degree. Jill graduated fromAcadia as Megan was just beginning herdegree. Summer came, and Megan neededa job to pay for school so she called up Jill,who was working at Ontario SpecialOlympics. Jill pulled some strings and wasable to get Megan a job. Megan and Jill car-

pooled to work each morning and evenshared an office together. The followingsummer, Jill was no longer working for theorganization so Megan ended up takingover Jill's position!

Not long after that, Jill travelled aroundAustralia, while Megan finished her degreeat Acadia. Upon Jill's return, they spent aweekend up at Megan's cottage laughingand sharing stories of travels, work andfriendships. A few years passed and theycontinued to keep in touch through e-mailsand phone calls. Jill headed off to Queen'sUniversity to complete her degree inEducation and Megan was working on acruise ship as a counsellor. It wasn't longuntil Megan was a guest at Jill's wedding.Who knew a camper would someday beattending her counsellor's wedding?

As history has shown, Megan has neverbeen too far behind Jill. So, not only didMegan also go to Australia, she decided tocomplete her education degree while shewas there. During this time, Jill was teach-ing in the York Region District SchoolBoard, developing strong connections,(that, of course, would later benefitMegan). If you haven't already guessed…after Megan completed teacher's college,she needed a place for her internship. So,she called up Jill... again! Jill was able toarrange a teaching placement for Megan ather school (Legacy P.S.). After a successful

placement, Megan was offered a job atLegacy P.S. This position resulted inMegan and Jill working together again! So,instead of introducing themselves as coun-sellor and camper, it now sounds a littlesomething like this "Welcome to LegacyP.S. I'm Mrs. Currie and I'm Miss Birk andwe'll be your teachers this year". For thepast two years Megan and Jill have beenworking together at the same school.

Over all these years, Megan and Jill stillfind themselves sitting around talkingabout Tawingo, sharing many laughsabout section songs, outrips, table gamesand interest groups - the list could go onand on. Now it is easier than ever to sharestories because they only live 9 minutesapart, in Whitby, ON. Megan’s and Jill'sfriendship with one another has led to thebeginning of a new friendship betweenJill's husband and Megan's fiancé. Eventheir dogs are friends! This camper-coun-sellor relationship has travelled a long"Ring" Road to an everlasting friendship.Megan knows that where ever the roadsmay take them, Jill will always be just aphone call away.

Soon, the tables will turn and Jill,Megan's camp, education, career and lifecounsellor, but most importantly friendwill be a guest at her wedding!

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C A M P M A T T E R S : R E - C O N N E C T I O N A N D R E F L E C T I O NW E T R A C K E D D O W N J I L L ( H A W C O ) C U R R I E A N D M E G A N B I R K : " W H E R E A R E Y O U N O W A N D H O W D I D C A M P H E L P Y O U G E T T H E R E ? "

1 9 9 5 - J i l l H a w c o a n d M e g a n B i r k - 2 0 0 8

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I can't see my feet any more. I am walk-ing down a path in a flooded forest, up tomy neck in cold black water. I can't see myfeet, and I can't see dry land, only the waterand the trees. At the moment all I can thinkis how badly I want out, but later I willwonder how I got there, and what I wasthinking.

One sunny morning in August, I set offinto the woods with two friends fromcamp. Colleen Irvine had recruited me andDave Allan to Team Ogniwat, and we wereabout to find out if we could run, paddle,bike, and orienteer well enough to finishour first adventure race.

The beginning wasn't promising. "So if this is that bit of shoreline, and

that's that hill over there, then we shouldhead ... "

"Nicky, the red needle points north.""Right. Obviously. I know that. I just

wanted to make sure you were payingattention."

It took us an hour and a half to find thefirst checkpoint. We squelched into mudand scratched through raspberry bushes.We backtracked and circled, strategizedand guessed, took compass bearings andcounted steps, and never ever let eachother guess that we were terrified.

Those first ninety minutes were all aboutcooperation, and when we finally saw thecheckpoint we knew that we were a team,and that we were going to make it throughthe race.

After that we got to pull out our fancyCamp skills. Take it from me - if you'regoing to navigate through a pathless forestor paddle down a river full of suddenturns, you want Camp people with you.On we went, aiming off and cross-bow-cut-ting and knees-down-in-the-canoe-ing…

So, yeah. About that. It turns out not allcanoes are as stable as the Tawingo fleet. Iwasn't the only one to get into the boatwithout kneeling, but I was the one whogot in right before it tipped, so you couldmaybe sort of argue that I tipped it.Anyway, it was knees-down for the nexthour or so, and by the time we made it backto land Dave and I were pretty glad to getout of the -

"OW.""Dave, are you okay?" Colleen was

already on the shore."Just - yeah, just hang on - my knees."

I thoughtabout steppingout of the canoe,tried to movemy ankle, anddecided to hoistmyself onto thedock instead.

"Nicky, whatare you doing?"

"I don't think Ican stand yet.Give me aminute."

"You are soold."

"It's true. I canfeel thirty creep-ing up. Do youthink they'll let me finish the race with awalker?"

We were to face much greater challengesthan sore joints. Our fastest race time wasjust under six hours, on a beautiful sum-mer day. In October, we spent seven hoursin a cold, wet forest, walking our bikesover hills when the brakes clogged withmud. We were uncomfortable and frus-trated, but we kept encouraging each otherwhile the warmth drained from our bodiesand our fingers stopped working. Westumbled across the finish line while therace organizers were packing up: of twentyteams overall, we were the sixth and last tofinish. The other fourteen had missed acutoff three hours earlier, been disquali-fied, and spent the rest of the afternoonwarm and dry. At least we got medals.

Then there was the race in May. The firstsix hours were wonderful - an easy paddle,some trail-running, and a bike ride alongcountry roads in the sunshine. Then thebike section turned into a forest, we ran outof food and water, and the puddles started.Ankle-deep. Knee-deep. Waist-deep.

Finally we came to a puddle that stretchedaway into the trees, an endless lake ofspring runoff.

There were no other trails. There was nogoing around it. Anyway, it was only apuddle, how bad could it be? We wadedin, deeper and deeper; towing our bikesonce they began to float. And now thewater is up to my neck, and with my nextstep I am swimming along the path, andit's insane, I want to go home, I'm nevergoing to get ...

"Nobody's panicking, right?" asksColleen.

"Nooo," Dave and I answer, "uh-uh," andwe aren't, not anymore. We are a team,and we are going to get each other throughthis. We will get out of this puddle, we willfinish this race, and the memory of this daywill become just another story to sharewith camp friends. When that happens,Colleen will have another adventure readyto suggest.

“It goes by [the ominous] name of theCanadian Death Race... it should be fun!”

C A M P A N D L I F E : O N E B I G A D V E N T U R EN I C K Y A D A M S , C O L L E E N I R V I N E , A N D D A V E A L L A N S H A R E T H E I R A D V E N T U R E S

Nicky Adams, Colleen Irvine and Dave Allan extend their love of the outdoors and their summerfriendships for each other into adventure racing. This team travel event takes place rain or shineand involves several modes of travel through varied wilderness terrain.

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Summer 2007 , F i rs tSess ion Nat ive Day . . .Ceccha ' s (Cacchione)grandmother had jus tpassed away that morn-ing and she was having areally hard t ime coping.So, I had brought a giantpack of Goldfish crackersfrom home (the Bulk sizethat you buy at Costcothat has three individualpackages in i t ) and (Sara)Haas and I decided wewere going to open thebox of Goldfish and al lthe candy we had incabin 66 and have a food party in order to cheer herup. So I open the Goldfish and the f irst thing I seeis a deflated bicycle t ire . I pull i t out entirely per-plexed and angered (since I was really looking for-ward to the Goldfish) . . .and underneath there are aton of elast ics and two empty boxes for a shaverand an alarm clock. So at this point I am assumingthat they have just stuffed this box full of junk torip me off the $12.00 I paid for my Goldfish. Butthen I notice a si lver bag underneath (the type ofbag that tends to be used for the bulk goldfish) .Thinking I may have lucked out and found my fish,I st ick my hand into the rumpled up bag. Imaginemy shock when I pull out hundreds of l i t t le pinkand blue pil ls . . . .

All of a sudden it hits me, that I 've been stuck inthe middle of some sort of drug traff icking. I thenPANIC, since the f irst thing that comes in my headis the fact that I have drugs in my cabin and some-one is going to assume I knew about them. I ran out

onto the porch and stum-bled across Tyler Lalondewho told me to take themto the Health Center andfigure out what they areand then ca l l up to theWhite House and f i l l Mikein on what happened. So Itook them to (nurse) Anne(Livingston) Murray (whopret ty much had a f i e ldday looking through everymedical book she had withher t ry ing to determinewhat these pil ls were!) . Inthe end, i t turns out onewas des igned to lower

blood pressure and the other two she was unable toidentify.

We then cal led Pepperidge Farm and explainedto them what had happened. . .At this point ALL Iwas concerned with was gett ing my $12.00 back(heck, I 'm a university student. . . twelve dollars goesa loooong way), but Pepperidge farm assured methey would g ive me a LIFE TIME SUPPLY OFGOLDFISH. I chose the latter . They then sent a rep-resentative to Camp to pick up the box of "uniden-tif ied drugs". Following that , in August I received aHUGE package of Pepperidge Farm goldfish, crack-ers, you name it . . .needless to say we had a FEASTon staff l ine that night!

When I got back to Toronto in September theysent me a report stat ing that the other two drugswere a type of Speed and that they suspected thedrug package was some i l l -planned attempt at ama-teur drug traff icking. For nearly a year and a half Ireceived al l sorts of Pepperidge Farm coupons andgoldfish deliveries. . .but they have stopped recent-ly.

I 've been meaning to write them inquiring whymy supply was cut off . . . I definitely plan to send al i t t le letter their way reminding of the 'deal ' anddemanding more 'goldfix ' - er - goldfish - ha ha.

And THAT is my infamous Goldfish story!

Shannon Harrower

Do you have a Ccamp story you care to share? We arealways looking to highlight the humourous and headshaking,the poignant and peculiar aspects of Camp life. If you have thetime to jot it down and send it (with a pic or two, please)along to alumni@tawingo.net, we would love to hear it andshare it.

C A M P S T O R I E S - S H A N N O N A N D T H E G O L D F I S HW E H A V E I N V I T E D A F E W S T A F F T O R E C O U N T S T O R I E S O F T H E I R T I M E A T C A M P . H E R E I S A S T O R Y F R O M S H A N N O N H A R R O W E R & T H E S U M M E R O F 2 0 0 7

T H E F A L L

A T C A M P

Andy Young now works at Crescent School and was part of the teaching staffbringing the entire Lower School to Camp for its annual fall visit. Alice Shiptonworked for us in the Outdoor Centre in anticipation of starting teaching college.

The area north of Camp is rich in natural history. Here a camper examines a freshbeaver chew in a large yellow birch tree near Rowan’s lake on the Sass PeepreTrail.

The wet portions of the fall prompted a huge crop of mushrooms and other fungithroughout the fall. The weather also provided a great environment for tree frogsand other amphibians.

Last year, Alice worked at Pickering College and so this year, the school organizeda field trip to Camp Tawingo. It included a magnificaent couple of days for acanoe trip to Rock Island on Lake Vernon.

Will House was also on our fall staff and carried us through a large number of fallgroups with Alice. For many children in the outdoor centre, a paddle in theTawingo freighter canoes is a first-time experience.

Over the past few years, we have experienced some extensive forest damage at thehands of severe winds and strong storms. This group is getting a chance to exam-ine the underside of a huge root plate to marvel at a tree’s strength.

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H O K A H E Y !F O R M E R S T A F F - F U T U R E C A M P E R S

We want to start our alumni familiesoff on the right foot. When a baby is bornand we hear about it within three monthsof the birth, Camp sends the new campertheir first Camp Tawingo T-shirt rightaway. Be sure to let us know atalumni@tawingo.net

We are also thrilled to hear about other‘instant’ families (through adoption, mar-riage and special circumstances).

Help us spread the news with the par-ticulars you would like to share with yourCamp family. Just send it along to alum-ni@tawingo.net

JACK GORDON BIRNIE

October 31, 2008 to Pat and Becca Birnie

OLIVIA ALICE WRIGHT SINCLAIR

May 13, 2008 to Sarah Wright and Charlie Sinclair

and sister Sophie

BAXTER BERRY

May 25, 2008to Brian & Joelle Berry

granddaughter to Jennifer Berry

LUCAS DOWELL June 2008

to Tim and Joanna Dowellbrother to Tessa and Cam

MOLLY-LYNN BATTLER

August 16, 2008to Sue (Woosnam) and Mike Battler

STELLA HUMPHREYMay 25, 2008

to Shannon (Hanna) & David Humphrey

HAYLEY CARLYLE SHEPHERD

December 3, 2008to Craig and Erica Shepherd

and sister to Sophie

Jocelyn Anne Revie D’Arcy

Baxter Berry

Jack Gordon BirnieAmy Herringer and Paul Joliat (both Tawingo alumni and baby Reid are all doing fine

Hayley Carlyle Shepherd

JOCELYN ANNE REVIE D'ARCEY

April 16, 2008to Gillian Revie & Paul-Francis D'Arcey

WILLIAM TOMAS UNDERYS

August 10, 2008 to Blythe (Williams) and Linas Underysniece to Trish and cousin to Charlie and

Pippa

ALLY ELIZABETH D'CRUZSIMONETT

September 23, 2008to Geoff Simonett and Tracy D’Cruz

and sister to Rye and Wilson

DAFNI ROSE MOUNTRAKIS

October 6, 2008to Gillian (AvRuskin) and Giorgos

Mountrakis

JONAH CUTLER

September 23, 2008to Nat (Welsh) and Matthew Cutler

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Turtle Babysitting?: Tessa and Cameron Dowell begin their brother, Luke’s indoctrination into Camp life, nodoubt discussing the camp skills and and adventures that lie ahead.

Family Foto: Ally Simonett joins the family on a full hospital bed this past September. Brother Wilson holdsAlly while Tracy, Rye and Geoff smile for the camera.

H O K A H E Y !F O R M E R S T A F F - F U T U R E C A M P E R S

Reid Joliat

Ben Zymerman

T I M E P A S S A G E SWEDDING NEWSAMANDA BURRY and Mike Rose

October 28, 2008

ENGAGING NEWSCARLY COOPER-EDWARDS and Jeff Hockett

June 27, 2009

HAYLEY GRATTO and Luke Gilgan

MEGAN BIRK and David Carter

OTHER NEWS

KAREN BENDER

Karen is living in Australia at themoment and is involved with theAustralian Football League. In theleague, all the teams have a team songthat they sing when they win a match.This is typically televised from thewinning team's locker room straightafter the game. They've been hearing awhole lot of "Oh When The Saints..." asthe St Kilda Saints have been overcom-ing adversity to make it through thefinals. Karen reports "How funny thatevery time I hear the song, I'm broughtback to lunch time sing song and theSaints medley - the Aussies can't figureout why I'm singing 'Good NightLadies'!"

NADINE DUNK

Nadine got married at the beginning ofMay and though she still goes asNadine Dunk, she is unofficially

Nadine Dunk Graham. She and herhusband are both very close to com-pleting their PhD's and in the mean-time, have moved down toPhiladelphia to pursue post-doctoraltraining. It's been a busy year so farfor Nadine, and it doesn't appear to beslowing down any time soon! She isenjoying Philadelphia, and the doublework schedules won't last for muchlonger! She's not a Dr. yet... but soon!

GEOFF SIMONETT

Boy oh Boy, it's a…GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Geoff, Tracy, Rye and Wilson Simonettand his family are thrilled to announcethe arrival of their precious little girl,Ally Elizabeth D'Cruz Simonett. Allyarrived September 23rd, 2008 at4:14pm. She weighed 7lbs, 11 ouncesand reached 19 inches. Ally is ever sosweet and makes our family happilycomplete.

BRAD MOFFAT 2002-2004

After working for several summers asa private ambulance attendant inHamilton and completing an HonoursBachelor of Medical Science degree,double-major in physiology and phar-macology/toxicology from theUniversity of Western Ontario, Bradwas accepted into medical school atWestern. He just finished his first yearand is currently doing clinical researchin the Emergency Department here inLondon. Brad has three more years ofschool before he'll have to pick a spe-cialty and complete a 5 year residencyin that area. In a class of 147, therewas bound to be at least one Tawingoconnection - One of Brad's classmates,Matt Cruickshank, was a camper atTawingo! Brad has been keeping him-self busy volunteering with the UWOcampus ambulance team as well asstaying active refereeing intramuralhockey at the university and minorhockey for the city.

BRYAN SUTHERLAND 2002-2003

Bryan Sutherland and Fellow TawingoAlumnus Corey Poole are in the bandwhich is going very well (OPOPO) andthey are enjoying very much. OPOPO

went to Denmark for a festival show-case, they are also playing Virgin-feston Toronto Island and have beensigned with Urbnet records sinceJanuary. Their EP is in HMV now, andtheir full length CD will be ready inApril. There are four band membersand you can check out more atOPOPO.ca.

DAN PATERSON 1995-99

Dan is currently living in Hong Kongand holds the same job, in accounting,he has held since he graduated fromDalhousie. Dan just celebrated his30th birthday and started a new job incapital markets group helping Chinesecompanies raise money in NorthAmerica, and he has almost completedan executive MBA throughIVEY/UWO.

STEPHEN SWANN 75-87

Stephen lives in Toronto, with his wifeof ten years. He is currently teachingEnglish and ESL in the Toronto DistictSchool board at North AlbionCollegiate Institute. They recentlybought a condo in Toronto. The yearprior to their move, Stephen complet-ed his M.A. in English from theUniversity of Toronto. His wife holds aPhD in theology from St. Michael'sCollege, U of T.

JACKIE RUMBALL 1984

Jackie lives in Guelph with her 2 boysCharlie is 4 and Josh is 12. She hasbeen a nurse for many years and lastyear went back to school to do theNurse Practitioner Programme. Jackiejust finished and has been working forthe last month and loving it. It's anadvance practice nursing role whichincludes making diagnoses, orderinglab and diagnostics and prescribingmeds - much like the role of familydoctor. She is working in a practicewith 4 physicians and will be rosteringpatients of her own which she is veryexcited about.

JESSICA YARNELL 2000-2002

Jessica is currently living in Calgaryworking in Human Resources at a

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T I M E P A S S A G E Slarge oil and gas company calledEnCana. She works on a team thatorganizes and manages all the CampusRecruitment activities and the trainingand development of students and newgrads. She actually manages to use afew leadership techniques she learnedat Tawingo and could maybe even bethe queen of ice-breaker games!!! Afew months ago, Jessica had a randomencounter with fellow alumnus PaulJoliat and had a quick chat and remi-nisced about Tawingo and the WJ.

KIM GLEN

Kim has recently returned from teach-ing English and Math in Thailand andsays it was an incredible experience!She completed an 8 month contract atan international school and then trav-elled for a month and a half beforereturning to Victoria. It was a greatway to see what is going on in theworld and the people that livethere.....particularly in remote places

of Indonesia.

This summer Kim has been teachingESL and has been promoted to ActivityCoordinator for a language school inVictoria. She is also teaching an out-door fitness program. Kim is headingto Valencia, Spain in January for ayear.

LAUREN COMMEFORD 2001-03, 2006

Lauren moved to Shanghai, China inJanuary and started working at thebusiest ESL school in China. She wasliving in China with a friend from uni-versity, who was also teaching, andboth were loving it. She has been ableto explore and learn a lot from Chinesepeople and her students. She loves touse her Drama experience in her teach-ing. She decided to continue heradventure and relocated to Suwon,South Korea, where she is currentlyworking in an English Kindergartenand loving it. With her love for teach-

ing, Lauren has decided to go back toschool in Fall 2009, to become ateacher.

SANDRA (MACDONALD) SISNEROS -1985-86

Sandra and her husband, Brian havebeen living in Queen Creek, AZ, about50 miles south of Phoenix for about 21/2 years. Sandra divides her timebetween her husband, her step-chil-dren (Trevor almost 16 and Dillan whois 19) and their Harley Davidson. Theyare also building a chopper in theirgarage - they say it's a fun hobby andhave lots of friends that they ride with.Brian works with her brother-in-lawfor a multi-family home constructionin California but Arizona is home base.Sandra is a project manager for anelectrical distributor, an Internationalcompany that has branches all over theUS, Canada and France and sell electri-cal and datacom material for residen-tial and commercial construction.

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Amanda Burry’s wedding to Mike Rose was a great opportunity to catch up with many Tawingo Alumni. The traditional weddig photos includedall former Tawingo Staff.

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This past September, we held our twelfthalumni fall weekend. In addition to thefamily aspect of the weekend, we held a bitof a mini-reunion. The TLC's of 1983 wereinvited as Tawingo’s guest. It was wonder-ful to see old friends whom we have notseen in, well... hmmm... in many years.The 1983 TLCs who joined us were AndyGibb, Alison Loucks, Jeff Cunningham,Ted Loucks, and Arnold Korpela.

The Family weekend included many ofthe ‘usual suspects’ and supporters. JamesScott, Glen Farrow, Deb Turnbull, MimiDrouin, Chris Pilcher, Sandy Sonstenes,and their families were also there to enjoythe weekend. We all enjoyed the kayaking,baseball, swimming, miniputt, hiking, anda cruise on the the pirate raft.

The Saturday evening begins with a greatvariety night, and ends with a warm fire in

the Alumni Circle. The starswere so magnificent on Saturday night,that Jorgi had a number of the kids andadults at the Star Board down by the DonHayes building for a quick review of Turtleand Fox stars.

It was a great weekend and I am lookingforward to the winter weekend. This yearwill be a special winter event that includesthree nights at Camp from Friday,February 13 to Monday, February 16. Itmay seem to start on an inlucky note butthe Saturday is Valentine’s Day. What bet-ter way to say I Love You (and I LoveCamp) than bringing your family andfriends to Camp!

If it has been a while since you have beento Camp, I urge you to attend one of ourweekends. They occur in the fall (followingthe Labour Day weekend) and in the win-ter (over the Family Day Holiday week-end.) There are other Camp family week-ends in the fall and winter where somealumni who cannot attend the officialalumni events bring, visit and meet old &new friends.

Milker

A L U M N I F A M I L Y W E E K E N DB I L L M I L K S A T T E N D S A N D H O S T S T H E A L U M N I E V E N T H E L D E A C H S E P T E M B E R A N D E A C H F E B R U A R Y

How many TLC boys have embellished the stories of just how hot that Council Fire waswhen they went forward to answer the ‘call for fresh torches’? How many have proudlydisplayed their singed eyebrows the next morning.

How many campers have been challenged and coached by Milker over the years in theskills of chess, ping pong or basketball? How many have also learned the skills of humilityin victory and grace in defeat at the same time.

A group of alumni trooped along Ravenscliffe Road last September recalling the traditionaltrip to Grey’s Store where every camper could spend a quarter. In this photo: SandySonstenes, Mimi Drouin, Deb Turnbull, Chris Pilcher, Lindy Young and Andrew Gibb.

How many campers have dropped letters to their parents into the White House mailbox?Anna and Emily first joined mom (Peggy Moss) and dad (John Beebe) at an alumni familyweekend and then jumped right into summer camp to create their own memories.

WWIINNTERIINNTER AAAALUMNNIILUMNNIILLONNGONNG WWEEKENNDEEKENNDFebruaaryy 13-116, 2009Valentine’ss Day AANDValentine’ss Day AANDHolidday Mondday

Holidday MonddayRegistration forms are available at Camp or On-Line

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It has been a couple of years now since Islept in a rickety old bunk bed on staff lineor stayed up well into the night perfectingan all boy's program which I will onlyadmit now might have been a little elabo-rate. But what is it like when you no longercall 1844 Ravenscliffe Road your summerhome?

For those of you I have yet to have thepleasure of meeting a little backgroundinformation might be beneficial. I attendedTawingo for the first time in the summer of1995 and never missed a beat until my lastyear in 2007. In that time I was a camper(my favourite job to date), VA participant,counselor, circle director and program co-coordinator.

Like many of the staff members at camp,I have numerous passions but the one Ihave decided to pursue is acting. Growingup in Ottawa I attended the CanterburySchool for the Arts where upon graduationI moved to Toronto and studied at RyersonTheatre School. It is coming up on nearlytwo years since my graduation and I amproud to say my friends and I have all hadour fair share of success in film, televisionand theatre.

The summer months are always a busytime for professional theatre in Ontario. Ifit was not for this fact, I could almost guar-antee I would still be planning All CampPrograms and organizing slideshows tothis day. But that is the great thing aboutTawingo and the Ontario CampingAssociation. Despite the fact I have notbeen a staff member for a handful of years,I have been able to keep my finger in thepie by participating at OCA conferenceseither as a workshop leader or a speaker.This allows me to not only pass along theknowledge I have accumulated, but it also

helps me keep in touch with the wonderfulpeople I have met along my journey. WhileI am honoured every time I am asked toparticipate at a skills weekend or confer-ence I am also humbled by the fact that youwould not be hard-pressed to find any staffmember to lead a workshop with their ownunique sense of flair and professionalism.

"Actors, this is your ten minute call tenminutes". The familiar sound of our stagemanager's voice booms over the backstageintercom. It is common theatre practice togive actors time updates, but the practicalpart is quickly forgotten and in its place isan ever-growing anticipation and excite-ment that can only be quelled by enteringonto that stage, under the lights, in front ofthat audience and telling a story for thefirst time. Or, so it should seem.

This moment has been in the works formonths beginning with the first chapter inevery shows process, the audition. TheGladstone Theatre, a brand new theatricalventure in Ottawa resides in the old homeof the Great Canadian Theatre Company at910 Gladstone in the heart of Little Italy.The play is Rabbit Hole, a 2006 PulitzerPrize winner about a family dealing with asudden and tragic death. I was currentlyperforming in William Shakespeare's TwoGentlemen of Verona in Toronto, but theRabbit Hole audition was in Ottawa. So atseven in the morning I took the four hourride to Ottawa for a ten minute audition,only to turn right around and head back.Despite Toronto's best attempt to slow myarrival with its famous gridlock rush hour,I arrived just in time to perform that night.

"Actors, this is your 5 minute call, 5 min-utes". Unlike other professions, a night ofperforming often does not begin when thecurtain goes up. Every actor I know hastheir own show routine. Mine will usuallybegin with either a trip to the gym or ayoga class to begin the process of warmingup. Then it's back home for a quick bite andthen off to the theatre arriving at least anhour and a half before the curtain goes up.Once there it is another hour period ofstretching and vocal warm-ups followedby costume, makeup a quick Sudoku (Ireally like Sudoku) and then the funbegins.

"Actors this is your 2 minute call, 2 min-utes". This is where it gets exciting as yourtransformation takes place. You forgeteverything going on outside of the build-ing and concentrate on the task at hand.Every breath you take subtly forces a waveof tranquility to surge through your body.Your focus shifts and gradually so doesyour personae. What begins to emerge is

C A M P M A T T E R S : R E - C O N N E C T I O N A N D R E F L E C T I O NW E T R A C K E D D O W N J E S S E G R I F F I T H S A N D A S K E D : " W H E R E A R E Y O U N O W A N D H O W D I D C A M P H E L P Y O U G E T T H E R E ? "

Jesse, Andy Young and Hayley Gratto worked in the Program Department and goofed around at the Hi Welcome Sign on a first day of Camp.

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T A W I N G O A L U M N I C I R C L Eyour hero, villain, son, father, king or cop.

"Actors places, actors to your placesplease". From here on in you disregard allyour training, you toss away your threeweeks of rehearsals, your concerns aboutact two scene one and especially that littlepiece of blocking that has never felt right.You ignore the silent murmur of the audi-ence. The house lights fade to black, youmove silently onto stage and the journeybegins. This was my routine for threeweeks. Routine is probably the wrongword. Routine denotes some sort of pre-dictability, but a live performance is any-thing but predictable. The number ofthings that can change on the fly, break,

turn on or not turn on, lines missed or linescompletely changed creates an atmosphereof complete irregularity, spontaneity andauthenticity. Who could ask for a betterworkplace?

What makes the transformation from thecampfire to centre stage so seamless are thenumerous similarities between the two. Inboth situations there is a strong sense ofcommunity and team work. You are sur-rounded by dedicated and passionate peo-ple both pursuing a similar goal. Along theway there are always unexpected delaysbut you can rely on your peers to pullthrough. The spirit of camping is one we allshare. While it is undoubtedly the

strongest during the heart of the summermonths, it is with us throughout the year. Itcan be shared in the form of phone calls,hugs, Facebook messages, postcards andemails. As I write this article there is a bit-ter sweet pang of nostalgia. I am remindedof all the wonderful memories and friendsthat I have made at Camp Tawingo. As theHoliday season approaches I wouldencourage you to take a couple of minutesout of your day and remind those specialpeople how thankful you are to have themin your life.

So, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!

A new addition to the waterfront and sailing fleet is a Hobie Cat catamaran. Withthe Huck Finn pirate raft in the foreground, the range of sailing options is nowquite broad.

The third leg of the Ray Marinko Relay shows great sportsmanship and support asthey wait for the first signs of their team mates before running their team’s batonto the Birch Beach canoes.

Here at Camp the snow has been falling(and is still falling) for the better part of amonth…which can only mean onething…it's time for Summer Camp, again!Well, at least it's time to REGISTER forSummer Camp, again. Indeed, we haveregistered 540 campers to date (December9), which is a record for us at this time ofyear! Knock on wood, somebody please,that it continues like this!!

We thought you might like to knowabout the dates for summer 2009, just incase you wanted to visit and see the placein action one more time (and you arealways welcome), or perhaps even workfor a Period (or two, or three) and be a partof the action one more time. (Imagineworking with Barrie Laughton in ourProperty Department - cutting grass, ham-mering a few nails, doing garbage runs,unplugging the odd toilet; or working withJorgi in a program area, like Crestwood,SWAMP Lodge, the Waterfront or at the

Little Green Hut; or, if you're a wiz with aphotocopier, working in the White Housewith Wendy Muir; or, perhaps if you're anurse, you would prefer working in ourHealth Centre!

Summer 2008 was a tremendously suc-cessful summer at Camp Tawingo - partic-ularly from a programming and whole-some, no holds barred, man-that-was-just-a-huge-boatload-of-fun point of view.True, we had an outbreak of an innocuousgastro-intestinal bug…but we beat it as astaff team and didn't lose a step in our pro-gramming with and for campers through-out the ordeal! Indeed, the staff didabsolutely wonderful work all summerlong; campers were everywhere safe andhappy; and there was a really good feelingat all levels and all over. With the memo-ries of last summer still fresh and warm inour minds and hearts, we look forwardwith great anticipation to summer 2009and year 49!

SUMMER CAMP DATES

FIRST SESSIONTuesday June 30 to Friday July 17 (18 days)

SECOND SESSIONSunday July 19 to Friday August 7 (20 days)

SESSION 2ASunday July 19 to Saturday August 1 (14 days)

SESSION 2BSunday August 2 to Friday August 7 (6 days)

THIRD SESSIONSunday August 9 to Monday August 24 (16 days)

Then, of course, there are our VA, WJ andTLC Programs. The TLC still runs all sum-mer long; and we are hoping to run twoWJs and two VAs this summer - one ofeach in each of the First and SecondSessions!

H O K A H E Y - S U M M E R C A M P N E W SH E R E I S A Q U I C K U P D A T E O F T H E H A P P E N I N G S I N A N D A R O U N D T H E S U M M E R C A M P W E A L L K N O W . . .

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One of the Ray Marinko Relay announcements wasan Office and Property Staff rendering of GreasedLightning. Picture Barrie and Brucebo on a golf cartrolling around the Dining Hall. It is true that atCamp we are forever young.

The general store at the top of the hill in the hamlet of Ravenscliffe is now a private resideence. It used to wel-come dozens od Tawingo campers over the days of a Camp session when one of the much anticipated activitiesused to be stopping in at the White House to get a quarter and then hiking through the woods and up the hillto the store where you could walk out with treasures such as blackballs, licorice or gum. You could even polyour money and buy a magazine!

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We would like to introduce ourtwo new teachers who havejoined 54 students for the 2008-09academic year. A familiar nameto Camp Tawingo, MeghanIrvine, is our Grade 3/4 teacher.At Camp, she has been a CircleDirector, Music/Art Director andLeadership Coordinator last sum-mer. Jillien Lundy now heads ourGrade 1/2 class. She was aCounsellor, Head Counsellor andAssistant Nature Director duringher summers at Tawingo. BothMeghan and Jillien have broughta wealth of experience to theirnew roles at the College. In the first fewmonths of school, they have both had amajor impact on their students and fellowteachers.

Jordan Stevens (JK/SK), Jeff Laughton(Grades 5/6), Leigh Fettes (Grades 7/8),Tia Pearse (Drama), Mar "MoNa" (MotherNature) Hogue (Outdoor Education andFrench), Mike Pearse (Student ParliamentAdvisor) and Barrie Laughton (Principal)round out the current teaching staff.

In late August, a number of the TawingoFamily - Barb and Lila Jorgenson, JeffLaughton and Catherine Macrae alongwith their sons, David, William and James,Carol and Barrie Laughton, Nancy(Stewart) Neve, former JK/SK teacher andher husband Fraser and some TawingoCollege students and families attendedShannon Ramsay and Scott Elgie's wed-ding at Laurentian Lodge, north of EliottLake.

Our students continue to perform at avery high academic level. As usual, thestudents and staff have been very active:

The Terry Fox Run raising over $1,000.00 forcancer research

A cross-country run (Muskoka Fun Run) atAnnie Williams Park at Bracebridge - withsome outstanding individual and teamresults

Our annual visit to the HuntsvilleCentennial Pool where all our students areevaluated on their swimming ability inpreparation for our water programs, springouttrips, etc.

All classes participated in fall hikes and lun-chouts. Our senior students enjoyed aPhotography field trip organized by teach-ers, Jeff Laughton and Leigh Fettes

Mike Pearse and the Student Parliament rep-resentatives organized a number of "Spirit"events for the College - "Come as What YouWish to be When You Grow Up Day","Bright Colours Day" and a Pumpkin(scariest and wakiest) Carving Contest.

The Grade 7/8 class attended a multi-mediapresentation "Dead on Arrival" at theAlgonquin Theatre in Huntsville which

addressed the hazards associatedwith alcohol and other drugs

Our Hallowe'en Fair (includingthe "Dreadful Castle of Doom"and many game booths inLaughton Hall) was preceeded byour Family Luncheon - bothenjoyed by all!

Our JK/SK class visited theHillier Farm. How exciting forthe K-Pals to see newborn llamas!

The Grade 5-8 classes attended theRemembrance Day Ceremony atthe Cenotaph in Huntsville. Two

Tawingo College students, SydneyArmstrong and Jack Dettmer, placed awreath at the Legion.

Tia Pearse, our Drama teacher, with theassistance of all our teachers, organized ourannual Arts Concert with participation byall students - a well-attended presentationby families and friends

Operation Christmas Child - our studentsfilled shoe boxes with gifts for needy chil-dren around the world

Tawingo College was delighted to participatein the celebration of World Peace Week. A"Peace Tree" was constructed and everystudent attached a drawing or message to abranch for display at the Huntsville Mall

It's starting to snow heavily and we mustrun as the students will be tobogganingand sledding during recess at the front ofthe school.

The students and staff of TawingoCollege send "Best Wishes for a happyHoliday Season".

T A W I N G O C O L L E G E - “ T H E L I T T L E S C H O O L B Y T H E L A K E ”S P E C T E M U R A G E N D O - L E T U S B E K N O W N B Y O U R A C T I O N S

The year was 1984 and you were probably16 years old...

The phrase on everybody’s lips was:“Where’s the Beef?” made famous byClara Peller in a Wendy’s commercial.

The Olympics were held in Sarajevoand Los Angeles (The Russians took apass on L.A.).

Pierre Trudeau took his famous walk inthe snow and announced his retire-ment.

Marc Garneau is the first Canadian inspace.

You might have been the first personon your block to buy Apple’s first Macor Panasonic’s first CD player on themarket.

You might have donned one glove andmoonwalked your way throughMichael Jackson’s Thriller or belted outone of Wham!’s - Wake Me Up BeforeYou Go or Tina Turner’s - What’s LoveGot To Do With It.

You were probably assigned a role inthe Boys’ Camp or Girls’ Camp versionof the latest movies: Ghostbusters,Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom orBeverly Hills Cop.

If you were a Royals watcher, you werethrilled Princess Diana was about togive birth to Prince Harry.

Your hair was getting big, you proba-bly owned a pair of acid-washed jeans,Doc Martens or a preppy sweater towear over a Lacoste T-shirt (maybe allthree...)

As a TLC, you were in for quite a yearunder the leadership of John Jorgensonand Lisa McKeen. Camp changes included:

More Campfire Programs is the latestof the Tawingo Publications

Gatehouse is renovated into a duplex -Westgate and Eastgate

Washington Square is built from theGatehouse shed

Don Hayes Building is rotated 90degrees

First computer installed in WhiteHouse

And now it is 25 years later. We are invit-

ing you to dust off the old TLC shirt andmake a trek back to Camp. We are invitingyou to join us as our guests at the fallAlumni weekend. You are invited to bringalong your family at a special reduced rate,if you wish.

We will be in touch with more information.

The list of TLCs from that year is completebut we are seeking contact information fora few of them. We have some informationon many of these TLCs. If you can helpspread the word and help us locate any ofthese lost sheep, we would appreciatehearing it - alumni@tawingo.net.

Do you have any musical instru-ments that you can spare? We have a hugeresurgence in interest for music, musicalinstruments and instruction. It takes usback to Jan Gillin’s Ukelele Club! TheMusic Department is now offering a dailyInterest Group option of everything fromguitar lessons and drumming circles todance routines and choral work.

Camp will put any decent instrumentinto action for these sessions as well asmusical meals and the musical itself.

The Library continues to be the placeto be during free time. Tournamentsgalore, cabin Jenga challenges and the onli-gatory game of cut-throat Risk are offsetwith comics from the Archie shelf andother more sophisticated reading (myfavourite is Nancy Drew...)

We value any and all light readingbooks as well as oversize and picturebooks on any topic. Tawingo College isalso always pleased to consider your dona-tions.

G U I T A R S G A M E S / B O O K S

ONE FAMILY’S JUNK IS CAMPTAWINGO’S GOLD MINE

Do you have any costumes lyingaround, games (complete with all thepieces), children’s puzzles, etc. for us topass along to summer camp? You maynot recognize them as costumes. They maybe your precious bell bottoms, prom dressor first suit coat.

Camp appreciates these kinds ofdonations to help with their retrospectivemusical revues, Aliens on the MountainPrograms and Library Tournaments. Sendthem along to Camp at anytime.

Do you have any photos of Campover the years? We are looking for thesnapshots and special memory photos.What about birthday cards from variouseras. Old Staff Shirts, sweatshirts and otherCamp Paraphenalia.

Our displays are not complete. Wewould like to digitize or photograph yourmementoes and complete our collection.Bring them with you to the next alumniweekend, or send them to Camp anytime.Sandy (Sonstenes) Young even found afew old Tawingo postcards on E-Bay.

C O S T U M E S P H O T O S

T R A D I T I O N S

T A W I N G O A L U M N I C I R C L E

T L C ‘ 8 4 - 2 5 Y E A R R E U N I O N

1984 TLC

HAYLEY AVRUSKIN

VANESSA BRADDEN

ANDRIA DARBY

JILL DELAHEY

SARAH DAY

MARTHA GREEN

ROBYN GUEST

SUSAN HRISCHENKO

ALEXANDRA MARTIN

JENNIFER MORGAN

KELLY PRENDERGAST

HEATHER PROWTEN

JULIE SELLERY

RUTH SELLERY

HEATHER TOTTEN

GRAHAM ARNOLD

MICHAEL BOYLE

MICHAEL COWAN

BRIAN DELAHEY

GRAHAM GIBB

DONALD HAAG

JON MAECKER

DOUG PALM

MICHAEL RACICOT

MARK SHEPHERD

CAMERON TIESMA

TLC DIRECTORS

JOHN JORGENSON

LISA MCKEEN

T R A D I T I O N SPrepared/Written: Tawingo Alumni Circle Steering Committee

Newsletter Editor: Carly Cooper-EdwardsLayout: John Jorgenson

Camp Tawingo1844 Ravenscliffe Road, Huntsville ON P1H 2N2 CANADA

Telephone: (705) 789 5612 - - - Fax: (705) 789 6624alumni@tawingo.net - - - Website: www.tawingo.net

Please consider the impact on the environment by choosing to print this newsletter only if necessary.This newsletter (when printed at Camp) is printed on recycled paper stock

T R A D I T I O N S

T A W I N G O A L U M N I C I R C L E

a productive life, and is much better adjusted than I imagine hemight have been without having had the time at Camp.Discussions with his mother and personal observation of hisbehaviour confirm this view.

Barrie keeps a file of many such letters and observations. Aspart of his Campership FUNd portfolio these letters fromcampers, sponsors, and parents relate how the camping experi-ence has helped these sponsored children improve school per-formance, gain confidence and develop self esteem, all whilegaining a greater sense of personal responsibility. In short, thesechildren are on their way to becoming active, contributing mem-bers of their community and better motivated to fill their ownpersonal potential.

So as I listened to Jack and the BCB, I thought to myself, wecan make a difference, in fact, we are making a difference and

will continue to do so as long as we maintain that commitment topreserving the best principles of the Camp experience for chil-dren.

As the festive season approaches, and we are all coping withtumultuous capital markets, global events of terrorism & tortureand the continual infringement on human rights, let us considerthat there is far more right with the world than wrong.

I suggest that this may be, in part, a result of our collectiveacts of kindness, some of which is allowed to develop while atCamp... it does make a difference!

May the New Year bring you and your family peace, healthand prosperity.

Cheers

Kris Birchard

T A C C H A I R . . . c o n t ’ d f r o m P a g e 1

W E W A N T T O

C Y B E R - H E A R F R O M Y O U !

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more news about Camp. Send it along to us atalumni@tawingo.net

Check out Tawingo Alumni Circle

on FA C E B O O K, too!