Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.10.1990, Blaðsíða 7

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudágur 26. október 1990 • 7
News from lcelandic Canadian Clabs
Gimli
Chapter
The Gimli Chapter of the Icelandic
National Leaguepresents an overview
of the highlights and activities for the
year 1990. It should also be mentioned
that the chapter was formed in 1943 -
this is our forty-seventh year as a vital
and active group.
The year kicked off with the I.N.L.
Convention held at the University of
Manitoba, May 4- 6, 1990, with ap-
proximately ten members attending,
three of which were voting delegates.
The Gimli Chapter in co-ordination
with all the other Interlake clubs
sponsored the Saturday luncheon, with
guest speaker Mr. Jim Daly .
May marked the election of officers
for the 1990-91 term. They are as fol-
lows:
President....Mrs. Marjorie Amason
Past President ....Mr. Helgi Austman
Vice President..Ms. Dilla Narfason
Secretary....Ms. Emily Johannson
Treasurer ..Mrs. Marie Ambjomsson
The chapter donates annually to
the Lögberg-Heimskringla, the Iceland
Forestry Fund, the Evergreen Festival
of the Arts, and the Icelandic Festival
of Gimli.
A newsletter is published three
times yearly - spring, winter and fall -
with copies sent to all Presidents of all
the Chapters. The results of the Pio-
neer Cairn questionnaire indicated
that the membership wished the Cairn
to be left at its present site, but added
that a “dressing-up” would be pre-
ferred.
Other projects for the year were
participation in the Western Canada
Summer Games program. An hour-
long programme of Icelandic heritage
and content was presented on July 2,
1990.
The Icelandic Conversational
Classes - our second season and a new
approach to teaching ( one student to
one teacher) dwelling on basic, simple
everyday words and phrases. It’s in-
teresting and fun.
The chapter plans to have its an-
nual Xmas party for the Betel residents
scheduled for mid-January.
Six copies of the “Framfari” were
presented to various institutions and
personages. These were presented by
our President, Mrs. Marjorie Amason,
on behalf of the Gimli Chapter.
Further projects are presently be-
ing investigated by the chapter, which
include the donation of shade trees to
the Gimli Park (which will hopefully
remedy the sunshine and tempera-
tures while participating in, or
watching, the activities on stage). The
other project entails a videotape made
of the President of Iceland’s visit to
Canada and to Gimli.
Finally, the Icelandic books sal-
vaged from the old Betel Home have
Answering a need, continued
On a more joyous note, the machine
and I have done a horror segment for
Hallowe’en, Handel’s Hallelujah cho-
rus for Easter and Auld Lang Syne for
New Year’s Eve. We remind people of
important occasions hke groundhog day
and national weatherman’s day, and
we pass on appropriate legends for
Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day.
However, the machine only admits that
I’m out of town when it can also tell
people that Jack is here, guarding the
house and the machine.
My close friends are on to me. They
know I’m probably hovering over the
receiver. They know I like to let them
make fools of themselves on my 30
minute message tape while I decide if
or when I’ll pick up the receiver. I
quickly decided some of the messages
are too much fun to lose, and before I
reuse a tape, I record my best mes-
sages on a spare. After all, I’ve had
Happy Birthday sung to me, long dis-
tance, and Emily, my surrogate grand-
daughter, practices her vocabulary on
the machine, breaking into shrieks of:
Itelanbic National league
©rganizcb 1918
Inrorporatcb 1930
Support Icelandic Culture and Heritage
Join your local chapter, or write to:
The lcelandic National League
Suite 308, 393 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 3H6
Telephone (204) 942-2705
found a new home in the inception of
the Hecla Island Museum, while oth-
ers were sold at various functions.
The Chapter meets approximately
six times per year at the Betel Home,
consisting of a business portion and
sometimés an added feature of a guest
speaker. The Barbeque meeting this
year blended our business meeting with
a bit of some R & R, at the cottage of the
new President, Mrs. Amason, just a
few footsteps down from the Famous
White Rock at Willow Island.
Submitted by Emily Johannson
The lcelandic Canadian Club
of British Columbia
1990 Annual General
Meeting of the I.C.C. of B.C.
by Emll Bjarnason
“Mommy, Nanny JOAN!” if I pick up.
The birth of my first grandson, Jesse
Colin, is recorded in my son’s awed and
hushed tones.
Mostly, my machine still collects
yards andyards of silence, ofbuzzes, of
clicks, especially at meal time when
the troglodytes are pushing their two-
for-one funerals. But the system is a
vast improvement over cutting down
sales people with pointless—if origi-
nal-insults at the seventh interrup-
tion I’ve had on a piece with a looming
deadline.
There’s a new wrinkle. Now most of
my friends make it clear they’d rather
talk to my machine than to me.
But when I come in from running
errands to discover that my little ma-
chine has captured a message from
some wonderful editor who wants to
pay me on acceptance for an article, we
chuckle together for a minute or two
and I give it a loving scratch just over
its speaker, and treat it to a new mes-
sage.
It isn’t my friend, but it’s certainly
a helpmate.
For the first time in its history, the
Icelandic Canadian Club of B. C. held
its annual general meeting in its own
centre. This is a sort oflandmark—the
consummation of a year of very hard
work and cooperative effort to make a
long-standing dream come true.
Followingthe readingof the minutes
and correspondence by secretary Linda
Birch, the meetingheard the report of
President Irene Finnson and the re-
ports of eleven committees.
President Finnson thanked all of
the directors, committee members and
other members of the club for their
efforts to carry on the normal activities
of the club while at the same time
undertaking the work of bringing Ice-
land House into being. That under-
takinginvolved the cooperation of many
members in raising funds, backing
loans and puttingin hundreds ofhours
of volunteer work, painting, building,
collectingíumiture and materials, etc.
She felt that, in general, the club had
carried out an ambitious cultural pro-
gram side by side with the Iceland
House project, and she looked forward
to a hugsapottur (think-tank) this
month, at which a program of activities
for the comingyear would be discussed.
The meeting was informed by the
membership convener that the mem-
bership of the club is now over 500.
During the year, Icelandic language
classes were held at three levels,
thanks in large part to the efforts of
Hjálmar and Valgerður Árnason and
Gwen Guðbjartson. The club library
was greatly expanded by taking over
the books housed at Höfn and starting
the laborious task of computer-cata-
loguing them.
There were some innovations in the
matter of advertising (in the news-
letter) and marketing, especially the
designing, purchasing and sale of
T-shirts with a Viking theme.
Nine scholarships were awarded to
students of Icelandic- Canadian back-
ground to help them in their university
careers.
It was noted that Dr. Robert
Helgason has retired as chairman of
the scholarship committee after serv-
ing many years in that capacity.
A major aspect of the club’s activity
in the coming year will be the hosting
ofthe annual convention ofthelcelandic
National League.
The fínancial report by treasurer
Wayne Brandson was one of the more
important events of the evening. Wayne
reported that the club’s income for the
year had amounted to $117,043.78, of
which the largest amounts were do-
nations and fiind raising activities re-
lating to Iceland House and a “Go B. C.
Grant” of $43,433.33 for the same
purpose. Expenses amounted to
$34,710.68, including $17,613.81 of
occupancy costs, leaving a gain for the
year of $82,333.10.
That gain, incidentally, was almost
identical to the amount paid toward
the purchase ofthehouse. Still the club
started the year with cash of $20,840.76
and ended it with $18,230,18.
When the renovations still to be made
to the basement are completed, the
club anticipates receiving a further GO
BC grant of approximately $43,000,
which will make possible the repayment
of$24,000 of loans from members
which were advanced on a “bridge fi-
nancing basis” to help in acquisition of
the house.
Directors electedfor the comingyear:
Irene Finnson, Wayne Brandson, Oli
Leifson, Kristjana Helgason, Naomi
Dyer, Doug Einarson, Sylvia Szabo,
Gwen Gudbjartson, Bjorn Hjorleifson,
Ben Foster. The above are continuing
members. Also welcomed to the board
are new-comers: Elin Horton, Jon Ari
Sigurjonsson, Gary Magnusson, Leslie
Geirholm, Ola Andreasdottir, Loren
Gudbjartsson.
Retiring from the board this year
and in most cases after several years of
service are: Grant Carlson, Gus
Tryggvason, Linda Birch, Carol Foster,
Emil Bjarnason, Alda Steele, Oddny
Hamilton, Pauline Dehaan.
Letter to the Editor
Oct. 10/90
Dear Editor,
Enclosed is an article about “Icelan-
dic Chickens”, which I thought you
might find interesting. (Bet you didn’t
know there was such a creature).
So far, things are progressing quite
well, or as well as can be expected at
this time.
Agriculture Canada’s rules for im-
porting eggs are quite strict, which is
understandable. To help us through
some of the bureaucratic “red tape”,
we’ve enlistedthehelp of Vic Althouse,
M.P. and agriculture critic and Murray
Kaskie, lawyer and M.L.A. Both are
from our constituency.
Plains Poultry, from Wynyard, Sask.,
has offered financial assistance, which
is greatly needed and appreciated.
(See article on page 5)
Sincerely,
Pat Morrison (Melsted)
Wynyard, Sask.