Volunteer Opportunity - Cemetery Cleanup at St. James Anglican, Carbonear

Volunteer Cemetery Enthusiasts Wanted!

We've posted here and here about the ongoing cemetery conservation project underway at St. James Anglican Church in Carbonear, one of the Foundation's Registered Heritage Structures. You can read about the designation of the building here.

This Saturday, July 29th, 2017, from 9am-12pm, the cemetery committee is organizing a cemetery bee! Volunteers are invited to come help with some of the brush clearance, and to assist with opening up the historic formal entrance pathway to the churchyard, which has become overgrown over the years. The plan is to be able to have the pathway cleared back by the end of the summer, and to re-open on the historic iron gates which have been shut for some time.  Members of the cemetery committee will be on site to talk about the church, the cemetery project, and what they've uncovered so far, and I'll be there to answer your questions about graveyards, tombstone symbolism, and the do's and don'ts of cleaning up your own historic cemeteries and churchyards. We might even be able to offer you a cup of tea!

This is an outdoor, hands-on activity, so please have appropriate clothing, workboots, gloves, hats, sunblock, bug spray, etc. If you have your own loppers/pruning shears/secateurs, bring them along. Just curious, and want to see what we are up to? Come for a chat!

The church is located at 13 Bond Street, Carbonear [click here for map] with plenty of parking to the north side of the church hall. See you in Carbonear on Saturday morning!

- Dale Jarvis

Living Heritage Podcast Ep062 Retaining and Recruiting Volunteers

Debbie O'Rielly is Coordinator for Volunteer Mount Pearl (VMP), an office created in 2014 by the Mount Pearl Sport Alliance. VMP was established to address the volunteer needs of community groups in the Mount Pearl area, and to act as a hub to connect volunteers and the groups that need them. Debbie does community outreach with seniors, youth and all those in between. She provides volunteer related news and shares volunteer job details on her website, through social media and in a quarterly newsletter. We talk about the work and objectives of Volunteer Mount Pearl, retaining and recruiting volunteers, using social media, linking youth with seniors, bread and raspberry jam making workshops, the Art of Storytelling project, and community gardens.

Download the MP3

Booklet Launch - Memories of City of St. John’s Volunteers

City of St. John's Volunteers and Heritage Foundation employees.

Booklet Launch - Memories of City of St. John’s Volunteers
The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and the City of St. John’s Community Services Department present a booklet launch at the Public Council Meeting in the Foran Green Room, St. John’s City Hall on Tuesday October 11, 2016 from 4:30-5:00pm.

A Life-Changing Experience: Memories of City of St. John’s Volunteers is the first booklet in the Collective Memories Series produced by the Heritage Foundation. This booklet focuses on the experience of five City of St. John’s volunteers and their reflections and advice on volunteering in the community.

“This is an excellent opportunity to showcase some of the City of St. John’s volunteers, and to learn from their experience,” says the foundation’s folklorist Dale Jarvis. “If you are interested in learning more about volunteering this booklet is a wonderful little resource.”

The volunteer booklet is part of the foundation’s Collective Memories Project. This project is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, with funding provided by the Department of Children, Seniors, and Social Development. The Collective Memories Project invites seniors to record their stories and memories for sharing.

The booklet launch is open to the public and there will be copies of the booklet available at the launch as well as a PDF version which will be placed online. For more information on the booklet launch or for information on how your community can get involved with the Collective Memories Project please go to www.collectivememories.ca or call Terra Barrett at 1-888-739-1892 ext. 5.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep056 Nurturing Tomorrow’s Cultural Custodians

Sarah Wade has worked for the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (MANL) since June 2011. Prior to working at MANL, Sarah attended Memorial University of Newfoundland where she received a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Archaeology and History in 2009. Sarah also obtained an Honours Diploma in Advanced Museum Studies from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario in June 2011. Sarah is also an active member with Youth Heritage Newfoundland Labrador, a group that works to create a network for youth and heritage professionals within the province.

In this episode of the Living Heritage Podcast, Sarah talks about how young people can start to develop a career in heritage through education and volunteerism, the importance of employers developing meaningful internship opportunities, networking, the role and mission of Youth Heritage NL the youth mentorship speed-dating model, how institutions can better utilize the skills of youth, social media, and workshop opportunities.

Listen on the Digital Archive:
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/singleitem/collection/ich_oral/id/698/rec/1

Living Heritage Podcast Ep043 About the Trefoil Guild, with Pat Burton

Pat Burton has been involved with Guiding as an adult for thirty seven years and is currently the Trefoil President for NL, a member of Killick Trefoil. She was President of Killick Trefoil Guild for seven years, and is part of the organizing committee for the National Trefoil Gathering for 350 guild members from across the county being held in St. John’s in June of this year. In addition to Guiding, she volunteers, sits on the Provincial Advisory Board for Seniors and Aging and is a member of the Collective Memories committee. We talk about her involvement with Guiding, the work of the Trefoil Guild, and the 2016 national conference of the Trefoil Guild being held in St. John's, Newfoundland.

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The Living Heritage Podcast is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio. Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Volunteer opportunity with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee

Are you interested in Newfoundland and Labrador culture, traditions, folklore, or oral history? Are you passionate about the skills, knowledge, and stories that contribute to local heritage and our sense of place? Do you want to be involved in the work of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage? We have an opportunity for you!

Heritage Foundation of NL is looking for interested volunteers to serve on its Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee. The ICH Committee will meet 4-6 times a year in St. John’s, to advise the foundation on projects related to safeguarding local traditions. The Committee is interested in recruiting 2-3 volunteers, and we would welcome volunteers from youth to seniors and everyone in between. Volunteers from across the province are invited to apply, as there will be opportunities to participate online or by teleconference.

If you are interested, send an email stating why you want to get involved, along with a copy of your resume or CV by December 18th to:

Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer, ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Youth Heritage NL at Government House

Guest blog post by Heather Elliott and Lisa Daly

Last Thursday, we had the pleasure of representing Youth Heritage NL at a Volunteer Week reception hosted by the Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Frank Fagan and Her Honour Patricia Fagan.

We’ll both admit that we were a little intimidated by the event. Heather had never been in Government House, and Lisa had been in there once on a Sunday morning when former Lieutenant Governor, Edward Roberts, stole her tour group and gave them a quick tour. That intimidation melted away as we were announced and warmly greeted by our hosts.

Lisa (left) and Heather (right) at the Volunteer Week Reception.

We spent the reception exploring the grand rooms, and asked a volunteer from Ronald McDonald House to take our picture. Turns out, we had our picture taken in one of very room where the Women’s Patriotic Association (WPA) used to hold their meetings during the First World War. They would knit socks, mitts, scarves and other items, as well as put together care packages to be shipped over to the soldiers abroad. It really was incredible to be standing where all those women had worked one hundred years ago!

Photo from The Rooms Provincial Archives, A 51-108

The reception was a wonderful way to show appreciation for volunteers, and while not everyone involved with Youth Heritage NL had the opportunity attended, the other attendees we spoke to were excited by the idea of a youth heritage group and all expect to see us accomplish great things in the near future. So know that while we are a fledgling group (and possibly currently bogged down by exams and hunting for seasonal jobs), the volunteer organizations of Newfoundland and Labrador are looking forward to working with us!

As a final note, cucumber, hollowed out and stuffed with hummus and topped with a piece of shredded carrot is really good!

Mummers Parade marches closer, and needs volunteers!

Do you like wearing a bra outside your clothes? Do you own long underwear? Is your idea of the perfect musical instrument an ugly stick? Then we have a volunteer opportunity for you!

The Mummers Festival will soon be here, and volunteers play a vital role in this community event! We hope you enjoy working as a volunteer as much a we, the organizers do! Community involvement can be a very gratifying experience.

All volunteers will receive a 2013 Mummers Festival T-shirt for their help. They are beautiful, just like you!

For details on how you can participate, visit the signup page here.

Volunteers needed for Mummers Festival! #newfoundland

We need your help! Volunteers play a vital role in these events. Even the smallest efforts have big effect. We hope you find as much joy as we do by participating in this community event!

Below is a list of roles we need filled. To sign up, please send an email to:

volunteer@mummersfestival.ca

Be sure to include:

• your full name
• your phone number
• the role(s) you would like to take on
• your email address

Many thanks! We look forward to working with you.

Hobby Horse Training:Learn how to make a hobby horse and then help us as a trainer. You will show others how to make them at our workshops. You will need to attend our training session on Tuesday, November 29 from 7:00-9:30 pm. Then sign up for at least 1 of our 3 Hobby Horse Workshops: Dec. 3 (10am-2pm), Dec. 6 (7-9:30pm), Dec. 10 (10am-2pm). *If you have made a hobby horse before, you can skip the training session.

Postering:This one requires many hands! We REALLY need help with this one by putting up posters and distributing postcards. We need help with the following areas: Throughout St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Torbay, Flatrock, Pouch Cove, Portugal Cove/St. Philips, Bell Island, CBS, Goulds, Southern Shore, Placentia/Argentia, Conception Bay North. This will happen late November/early December.

Materials Collecting:Help us gather up the needed materials for our workshops. You will need a car for this one. We have a list of items and locations for pick up. This will be ongoing between now and mid-December.

Sign Making:Help us paint and design various signs for the Festival. This will be ongoing between now and mid-December.

Parade Marshals:We need mummer marshals at our Rig Up and Parade. Various tasks include: setting up clothing stations, offering directions and information, monitoring the parade as we move along. Marshals will be briefed on Parade Day (Dec. 17) at 11:30 am.

Call for Volunteers: Summer Folklore Fieldwork Opportunity

The West End Oral History and Folklife Festival is being offered as part of the ICH office’s 3rd Annual Folklife Festival and will be held in two sessions: during the day on Wednesday, August 17th and on Saturday afternoon, evening and night, August 20th.

The theme of this year’s ICH Festival is “Seeds to Supper” an homage to agri-culture and education in food sustainability in Newfoundland Labrador. The West End festival seeks to present agricultural history in urban neighbourhoods in St. John’s. The geographic focus is from the Memorial to Tommy Ricketts on Water Street west to the ‘Crossroad’s, the location where Water Street west, Waterford bridge Road and Topsail Roads converge. The site goes north primarily from the bottom of Patrick Street to Wesleyan United Church on Hamilton Avenue (at Patrick St.), west past Victoria Park, Hamilton Hall (the CEI Club) and then to the Laurier Club at the top of the street. This neighbourhood was once the industrial heartland of the city as well as a farming region prior to that. Currently there are about 30 businesses in the area including a music store, lettuce farm, Pennecon, the Labatt’s Brewery and one of the oldest businesses in the city, not to mention the lovely Victoria Park, perhaps best known currently as the home of the Lantern Festival, held every year in the summer.

All Folklore graduate students and upper classmen who require practical ethnographic experience for their degree and diploma programs are welcome to participate in a volunteer capacity to carry out original fieldwork in a supervised community setting. Students may also volunteer to become festival administrators, presenters and programmers. A ‘buddy system’ and team structure will be engaged.

Options for fieldwork include occupational and labour folklife, the dockyards, the rail yards, folk art and music; old farms once right off Water Street; food sustainability for urban residents; river management in Victoria Park; and the history of the CEI Club. This building is turning into condominiums so opportunities abound for the analysis of the gentrification of the neighbourhood. Interest in children’s folklore past and present is welcome, as is the contemporary impact of the lack of children in the locale. Anyone interested in working with senior citizens on any topic should consider this opportunity to carry out original, independent field work. Finally, histories of Victoria Park, along with folklore of the park are also welcome.

Field work will officially start after Canada Day and will conclude with the festival dates. Students who wish to volunteer to conduct festival programming are welcome as well. Ultimately, the festival will be a place where students can, if they choose, apply their fieldwork for common good. If you wish, you can do as much fieldwork as you can fit into July month. Technical equipment is not necessary to participate in this project. The only requirement for the project is a brief essay summarizing your fieldwork and suggestions for additional fieldwork (4-5 pages). This essay must be completed by the festival date (August 17th).

Folklorist Kathryn Foley, MA (Memorial Folklore 1987), has experience in the public sector from 1987-1994 in New York State and Pennsylvania. She has edited and written curricula, managed the field office for a graduate student institute in oral history; taught ethnography and oral history to ninth graders and has extensive communication and networking skills. Folk art is a specialization. Additional information is available on her profile on the website, Linked In. Students will be provided with a Certificate of Participation as well as a reference letter upon request.

email only: kathrynfoley47@yahoo.ca.

Looking for practical experience in public sector folklore work?

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is an important new development in the heritage world. Our living traditions, intangible ideas, customs and knowledge are important for cultural identity and community sustainability, and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is on the cutting edge of ICH work.

We are looking for folklore and ethnomusicology graduate students who are interested in getting involved on a volunteer level and gaining practical public sector experience of the sort that future employers love. The Provincial ICH Advisory Committee has spaces on three sub-committees who will be working to promote, enhance and further the provincial strategy on ICH.

There are three ICH sub-committees in need of volunteers:

Inventory and Documentation – working on projects to collect, record and conserve fieldwork material.

Transmission and Celebration – working on projects to commemorate and promote ICH and local tradition-bearers.

Training – working to develop practical, hands-on folklore and fieldwork training workshops.

If you’d be interested in helping out with one of these groups, you can call Dale Jarvis at 739-1892 ext 2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca and say which group you’d like to get involved with.