The Western Development Museum (WDM) in Moose Jaw has updated its calendar and plans to discuss several topics during the next five months, from seniors to health care to war to Christmas to winter travel.
Celebrating seniors
The WDM encourages people to bring their grandparents — or any older family members or friends — to the museum any day throughout September as the organization celebrates Seniors’ Month.
Visitors can pick up their keepsake booklet that contains prompts on themes such as family heritage, celebrations, memories of school days, transportation, and more. Visitors can also learn first-hand about the lives of different generations.
The booklet is free with museum admission. For more information, visit https://wdm.ca/2021/08/25/celebratingseniors/.
Virtual Coffee Club
History buffs are encouraged to grab a cup of coffee and join the WDM online as it explores its vast collection during its virtual Coffee Club gatherings. Guests can register for one or all of the free talks during the next five months, with each session occurring from 10 to 11 a.m.
Participants can then share their memories and experiences about the topics after the presentations are over.
School days, Tuesday, Sept. 28
During this talk about past school days, participants will compare how schools have changed in Saskatchewan since the early 1900s. For example, did residents attend a rural one-room schoolhouse or a school in a town or a city? How did they travel to school? What did they take for lunch?
Guests will hear about school supplies, recess and what classroom life was like for the province’s pioneer children.
Health care, Tuesday, Oct. 26
A trained, free professional doctor is never far away when people are injured or sick, but 100 years ago, Saskatchewan people were not so lucky. People lived far apart and didn’t have cars, ambulances, or airplanes to help them travel to hospitals quickly. When they did have to call a doctor, they had to pay dearly.
In this presentation, participants will hear about these obstacles, how Saskatchewan people met these challenges and how they made health care better for Canada.
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), Tuesday, Nov. 30
This presentation will give participants an overview of how recruits from Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere trained at airbases across the country during the Second World War, including 21 flying training units in Saskatchewan.
Guests will learn how the wide-open prairie skies made an ideal location for these new pilots to train with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) and about some of the aircraft flown.
A Christmas Long Ago, Tuesday, Dec. 21
Participants will engage in some imaginary time travelling as they go back to 1910, where they will visit the home of a grandmother and grandfather in rural Saskatchewan during Christmas.
Guests will hear about how people stayed in touch, popular winter activities and what gifts were given over 100 years ago. Participants might notice that some things are similar today, but they might also see things that are different or have changed.
Winter travel, Tuesday, Jan. 25
Anyone who has experienced a Saskatchewan winter knows how tough it can be. Do we hole up and wait for spring? No, we try not to let the cold stop us from getting around.
Perhaps people remember taking a sleigh or cutter for a ride over the drifts. Did they harness the horse to a homemade caboose to go to school with their family? Maybe they were fortunate to catch a ride on a snowplane. This presentation will be all about looking back at types of winter travel in the province.
For more information, visit www.wdm.ca.
