Category Archives: What’s new
An author brings her own book, in Ukrainian!
It’s not often that a book club member gets to talk about their own book whose author copies just arrived the same day. And especially when that book is a new foreign language edition of a classic favourite. This is Monday lunch book group member Marsha Skrypuch and her most popular novel, Making Bombs for Hitler, but in the Ukrainian language edition — beautiful!
April speaker: Living an authentic life, Joan Grundy
Living an Authentic Life
Joan Grundy is a charismatic speaker and inspiring writer.She has addressed many groups in the areas of spiritual growth, educational leadership and wellness. She has a Masters degree in Theological Studies and background in psychology and counselling.
Before her retirement, Joan was employed as a department head of religion and family studies at a local Catholic high school. There she chose to counsel the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) students and to educate people about this issue. In her thirties, she realized that she was gay but because of her Catholic upbringing and profession was not able to be authentic because she couldn’t live out her real sexual life in the confines of the Church.
This is a timely topic now with extreme groups objecting to schools offering support and resources to kids who are in the “sexual minority”. I think Joan’s presentation should lead to some interesting discussion and thought.
Trivia Night!!!
The Dunsdon Legion was busy on the evening of Wednesday, February 7th with the sounds of 26 teams vying for the championship of our fifteenth Trivia Night. The questions were just right and those present enjoyed the challenge. At the end of 10 rounds, Team 8 was the winner and Teams 2 and 9 were tied. After a play-off round, Team 9 was victorious and took second place with Team 2 in third.
Barb Perry, and helpers, ran an another amazing sale of new/very gently used books, DVDs, CD, and puzzles and took in $244.00!
There were 24 Door Prizes, all donated by members and they seemed very appealing (many were also very tasty looking!). This year we decided not to run a draw prize to save time, but it also affected the profit for the event. Our usual Heads or Tails game took in $229.60 and Mary Guillemette went home with a $100 gift certificate to The Keg compliments of Ted McCleister of McCleister Funeral Homes.
We also received $215 in donations.
At the end of the evening, everyone was invited to enjoy a slice of pizza donated by Dominos Pizza. Dominos has supported us since the beginning, and we appreciate their generosity. Please consider purchasing a pizza from them sometime in the next couple of months, to show your thanks. As usual, the staff of the Dunsdon Legion was very friendly and accommodating!
Thank you to all who donated gifts, money, and time for our 2024 Trivia Night.
Our profit for the event was $2,539.89.
The Trivia Night Committee – Brenda, Colette, Dian and Lynn
Trivia Night
Please download and fill out the following registration form:
Trivia flyer webOur contact address is not posted publicly for obvious reasons.
Please use the form below and we will email you instructions on emailing or snail mailing the form and $100 team payment, and answer any other questions you might have:
Symposium Cafe is the perfect place for bookish lunches
Our book group has been meeting over lunch-brunch at Brantford’s Symposium Cafe ever since we ventured out for post-pandemic non-zoom gatherings. Always, the service is stellar and always the food is beautifully presented, tasty and not too expensive. The staff at Symposium never rush us out and they are so very pleasant and friendly. This is Annette. Her smile says it all!
Enjoying the artwork on the plywood patch bridge.
The 9:30am walkers decided to walk over the plywood patch bridge on the Dike Trail to enjoy the artwork. It was a glorious day to do that and it was also great to see the improvements that have been made on the trails.
Thursday night’s reading of The Maid by Nita Prose
The Thursday night Reading group read The Maid by Nita Prose, a Canadian mystery writer in Toronto.
“I am your maid. I am the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you are out gallivanting for the day, no care at all for what you left behind the mess or what I might see when you are gone.” Molly maid, Regency Grand Hotel.
What if, what’s left behind is a dead body? What follows are the twists and turns of a murder mystery. Within the group of possibilities group of possibilities are an unhappy family and the staff of the Regency — not the least is Molly herself who discovers the dead body. This is a delightful mystery full of interesting characters, relationships of staff and guests in a big hotel and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing right to the end. Both Thursday night groups enjoyed the book which led to a lively discussion.
CFUW Brantford presents Nova Vita with a donation of $3000.00
Thanks to the generosity of our members, on December 6th, CFUW Brantford presented Nova Vita with a donation of $3,000.00 for their 2023 Hope for the Holidays campaign
Serving Brantford and the County of Brant for over 40 years, Nova Vita provides trauma-informed emergency shelter, outreach sup- port, and counselling services to individuals and families experienc- ing abuse, as well as counselling for individuals who have caused harm in their relationships. Throughout these four decades, CFUW Brantford has supported Nova Vita with sponsorships, volunteering, and initiatives such as Basketeers, International Women’s Day events, and annual events.
Hope for the Holidays was introduced in December 2020 in re- sponse to the Pandemic and the alarming escalation of domestic violence.
To date, over the four Hope for the Holiday campaigns from 2020 to date, we have raised $9,235.00 to help Nova Vita make a difference for women and families who are in Nova Vita’s care during the Holiday season.
Here are a couple of comments from the women who were in the shelter last year after receiving our donation:
“Wow, the holiday gifts and gift cards are incredibly helpful at such a stressful time of year. Thank you….we are moved by your kindness. I don’t know how to express it well enough.”
“The love care and support we received …was over the moon. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us because of every one we have met here. Thank you!”
“My Kids thought they were at a “kid’s hotel” where they played and learned with new “teachers.”
“…I safe and valued. Food was fantastic too.”
The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid #2) — very good!
5/5 stars from Marsha S!
So nice to have dear Molly the maid back to solve a new murder at the Grand Hotel. Molly’s unique way of looking at the world is her blessing and curse and readers can’t help but root for her as she overturns tropes (the maid did it …. she’s just a maid … she’s not very bright) as quickly as she can make a bed. The characters in this novel are deliciously Dickensian and the key to the murder is in Molly’s childhood. Satisfying and cozy. This mystery is the perfect companion to a warm fire and a good cup of tea.
