Last weekend our community acknowledged our amazing volunteers and the dedication they display by  being there for the causes that help keep things running around here. The occasion was the annual municipally sponsored volunteer dinner  and at that event the one and only Anita Ferguson was called up to the stage for the volunteer of the year award. You just don’t get any better than Anita when it comes to commitment to community.  There are so many that are pitching in but it is becoming tougher and tougher as interest in volunteerism is waning. People burn out and interest groups are always looking for new blood. 

Ever since I was a youngster I have had a fascination with caves. It has never left me and I find myself inevitably drawn to any dark shadow or interesting feature of any depth in a rock face. I guess that is why I didn’t “bat” an eye when I went to work 2 1/2  miles underground  in the Vicary Mine while in college. Spelunking is probably a in-bred after effect of my coal mining family history.

The following is a reprinting of a profoundly interesting submittal to the now defunct Elk Valley Miner in 2011.  The introduction below the title of the article says. 

“Compiled and written by Harold Travis (S.S.M . CP).”

The Ukrainian bandura is more than an instrument. For generations, travelling kobzari carried history in song. Russian imperial restrictions and Soviet repression sought to silence them. Today, the bandura’s revival has become another note in Ukraine’s resilience.