The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1956, Page 59

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
57
Bruce found little difficulty in mak-
ing himself understood. When his
meager Icelandic vocabulary failed
him, he reverted to English and most
of the Icelanders were able to under-
stand him. In his enthusiasm over the
trip, Bruce has already started saving
up for a return visit, when he intends
to take his mother and sister along.
★
LEADING LYRIC POET
OF REYKJAVIK VISITS
WINNIPEG
Tomas Guffmundsson
The famed lyric poet, Tomas GuS-
mundsson of Reykjavik, Iceland, paid
a short visit to his kinsmen in Win-
nipeg on May 31. He appeared that
evening in the Federated Church,
under the auspices of the Icelandic
National League and recited some of
his most beautiful lyrics from his lat-
est volume, FljotiS helga (The Holy
River), besides bringing greetings from
his homeland. The author was warmly
received, not only because of his beaut-
iful poems but also on account of his
charming personality. — This poet was
featured in the autumn 1955 issue of
this magazine.—
For several weeks Mr. GuSmunds-
son had travelled widely throughout
the United States as a guest of the
State Department. He was accomp-
anied by he reverend J6n ThorvarSs-
son of Reykjavik, Iceland.
*
CHOIR DIRECTOR AND SOLOIST
A spirited and vivacious present-
ation of light and classical music
captivated the audience when Mrs.
Roland (Margaret) Decosse directed a
chorus of 36 mixed voices in a concert
at St. Paul, Alberta. Mrs. Dicosse, who
will be remembered by Winnipeggers
for her concert appearances here, her-
self performed as soloist and chose as
her first number an Icelandic song,
“Svanasongur a heiffi”. Items on the
program included piano renditions,
solos, quartet harmony, vocal duets,
instrumental pieces, pantomine, square
dances and chorus harmonization in
five languages. Mrs. Decosse, a native
of Hecla Island on Lake Winnipeg,
is the daughter of Stefan Helgason
and the late Stefania Helgason.
★
“IN THE ROUGH WITH RUTH”
This is a name of a column appear-
ing regularly in the Winnipeg Free
Press. The articles, dealing mostly with
women’s golf in Winnipeg and the
province, are written by Miss Ruth
Thorvaldson. She is well qualified to
report on golf and other sports for she
is one of Manitoba’s outstanding
young women golfers.
A member of the St Charles Coun-
try Club, Ruth was Manitoba junior
girls’ champion in 1952. That same
year she captured the provincial handi-
cap crown and the Clear Lake tourna-