Saturday, 10 June 2017, 8:00 AM to 8:45 PM
Led by Dr. John Lehr and Dr. Keven Van Camp
Cost: $95 per person for MHS or SFXHS members and $100 per person for non-members.
Tour includes: Includes transportation by air-conditioned, washroom-equipped bus, morning al fresco refreshments at Camp Hughes, lunch, dinner, admission to the BCATP Museum and The Royal Canadian Artillery Museum at Shilo and all taxes and gratuities.
The day will begin at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, 10 June 2017, when the bus will leave Grant Park Shopping Centre and head, via St Francois Xavier, to the site of Camp Hughes where thousands of Canadian soldiers trained in trench warfare before going to fight on the western front in the First World War. The trench systems are remarkably well preserved after a hundred years and our expert guides, Colonel (Rtd.) Bob Poirer and Captain (Rtd.) Gordon Crossley, will explain how the trench systems were constructed, organized and operated. Leaving Camp Hughes, we head to Brandon Airport, the site of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum. We will have lunch (catered by Shady Lane Tea Room) in the base canteen and tour the museum which displays numerous artifacts and restored aircraft, including Harvard and Tiger Moth trainers, and a Battle of Britain era Hawker Hurricane. Following the CATP Museum tour, we proceed to CFB Shilo to visit the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum for a guided – or on your own – tour. Those who wish to do so can inspect the displays of armoured vehicles and artillery in the surrounding park. We then head back to Winnipeg, stopping for dinner at the officers’ mess at the Southport Air Base, formerly a Commonwealth Air Training Plan base. The tour will then return to Winnipeg (via St Francois Xavier) arriving at Grant Park at approximately 8:45 PM.
All participants should bring photo ID, necessary to access CFB Shilo.
This field trip is organized and operated jointly by MHS and the St Francois Xavier Historical Society. Members of either society qualify for the reduced member rate. The MHS and St Francois Xavier Historical Society reserve the right to cancel the trip or change the itinerary if circumstances beyond their control so dictate.
To reserve your place on this trip contact Jean Owchar at 204-864-2304.
John is a retired Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Winnipeg, specializing in Ukrainian settlement in western Canada and South America, communal settlements in Canada and Israel, and provincial parks in Manitoba.
He was President of the Manitoba Historical Society from 1998 to 2000, and he has organized numerous popular and informative field trips for the society.
Page revised: 25 January 2017
