44th Annual General Meeting and Show of the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild.
Weekend
in Cobourg
by Louise G. de
Tonnancour
As I am writing
these words, I realize that a week has already gone by since I was on board Via
train 60, on my way to Cobourg, to attend the 44th Annual General
Meeting and Show of the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild. At 2:00
PM –
upon arriving at destination – I was kindly driven to the Lions Community
Centre by Derek Morris. There, I met with Lois Morris who was getting ready to
set up the presentation of the Beaconsfield Hooking Crafters Guild for the
show. The couple had driven from Montreal in the morning
with all the rugs to be displayed.
By 4:00
PM,
all the crafted items were hung and we were rather pleased with the result. We
had to leave the venue so that the judges could make their selections. It looked
like it would be a long evening for them; there was so much to be seen!
It was time to
register for the AGM. This year’s hostesses, OHCG members from Ajax, Campbellford,
Northumberland, Oshawa and Port Perry
were there to welcome us with warm smiles. We were given cleverly made woolen
flowers with name-tags and brown paper bags filled with items to surely please
any rug hooker. Saturday morning, with all due pomp and decorum, breakfast was
combined with the Annual General Meeting in the hotel ballroom. The atmosphere
was thoroughly pleasant. After the introduction of all the participating guilds
and brief reports from the board members, the President, Ruby Clark, announced
the winners of the 2010 awards. From beginners to fine cut, large cut to
oriental, to pictorial, primitive and alternative techniques – none of the
categories so familiar to rug hookers were forgotten.
The rest of the
day was spent visiting the exhibition and vendors, meeting old friends, making
new ones and attending short one-hour workshops (I had registered for three,
over two days). We all met again in the hotel ballroom for an evening of
dinner/theatre, which turned out to be very entertaining. Lunchtime Sunday, I
had to head back to Montreal. Before going to
the train station, I asked the taxi driver to give me a tour of Cobourg, which
is a very beautiful historical town of 18,000 on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Congratulations to all the organizers of this memorable event. Mark your
calendars now, the 2011 OHCG AGM is scheduled for London, Ontario, as usual on the
first weekend in May.
Follow the link to see the Photo Album: Cobourg 2010
