The AGM and Peterborough to the Canadian Prairies.

Our Chairman, Trevor opened the 31st AGM of the Peterborough Local History Society by welcoming all the members attending and giving us a rundown of the year’s events. The first full year of meetings since the Covid Pandemic disrupted events locally and worldwide. The business part of the AGM was conducted swiftly and successfully and was followed by the evening’s speaker, Carolyn Perkins. Carolyn, a member of the society is also a professionally qualified historian and genealogist, specialising in family and local history. Her in-depth research into the connection between the Canadian Emigration service, their local office in Long Causeway Peterborough and the early 20th-century emigration of local agricultural workers looking for a better life in Canada by farming on the vast Canadian Prairies made for an enthralling evening’s entertainment.

Carolyn highlighted a number of the local men and women who managed the Canadian Emigration Office here in Peterborough and some of the men who made the arduous journey from the East of England to the far West of Canada in search of Land to farm and a better life for them and their families. Sadly though a few of these men came back to fight in the 1914/18 World War only to lose their lives fighting for their homeland.

On a personal level, I found Carolyn’s talk fascinating as it gave me an insight into the decisions made by two of my family members who made this journey.