THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome. Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.
Friday, December 31, 2021
Hello 2022..............the best is yet to come.
Cheers ! Everyone ,all those who randomly find yourself here and those who seek it out.
Happy New Year.......put the old year to rest and enjoy the new Year 2022.
Friday, December 24, 2021
Merry Christmas 2021
Merry Christmas to all who surf by here,and those who check more often, Another strange year and tough in spots for many of us I am sure.However we will get past all these weird and annoying health scares etc.
Take time to enjoy and appreciate your friends and family this holiday season. Life is fragile so appreciate all you can.
Again Merry Christmas .Cheers ! LesF
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Atwater Market............we've all been there
As kids it was always a treat to go to Atwater Market,but one thing was always special was going to pick out the Christmas Tree......you had to pick the right one. Great old memories from many days gone by. Cheers ! and Have a Mery Christmas this year. Cheers ! Les
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Please Support the 2021 Canadian Poppy Campaign -Cheers ! LesF
Royal Canadian Legion hoping sense of normalcy returns to this year's poppy campaign
Remembrance Day
Poppies are placed on a cross at the end of Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Grand Parade in Halifax on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
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Text:
Noushin Ziafati, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, November 1, 2021 5:26AM EDT
The Royal Canadian Legion is hoping its annual poppy campaign regains a sense of normalcy this year as fewer pandemic restrictions are in place across the country.
In the lead-up to Remembrance Day, the organization says it will have more than 34,000 traditional poppy boxes at locations across Canada, where people can donate cash and receive a poppy pin - roughly 9,000 more boxes than last year.
For the second year in a row, the organization will also have boxes that can accept payments from tap-enabled devices or cards. The legion said it will have 1,000 of those electronic boxes this year, compared to 250 last year.
Canadians can also make a donation towards the campaign at mypoppy.ca, where they can create a digital poppy, add a customized commemoration and share it on social media.
Nujma Bond, communications manager for the legion's national headquarters, said there will likely be a greater number of people physically present with donation boxes this year - similar to pre-pandemic times - thanks to looser COVID-19 measures.
“We are not only coming out with a greater number of initiatives, but we are also facing fewer ... local health restrictions,” said Bond. “So it's allowing us to get back to a semblance of normalcy in terms of the poppy campaign itself.”
Volunteers handing out poppies are still required to wear masks, stay distanced, and be vaccinated against COVID-19, Bond noted.
The legion said it raises about $20 million from its poppy campaign each year, with the funds going directly toward supporting veterans, their families and communities.
While the organization doesn't have final figures for the amount raised from last year's poppy campaign, Bond said the legion felt there was an increase in support “both figuratively and literally” for veterans in 2020 despite the restrictions brought on by the pandemic.
She said she expects a similar show of support from Canadians this year.
“We found last year, as I'm sure it will happen this year, that there was a tremendous show of remembrance and support across the country, despite the pandemic,” said Bond.
Veteran Mike Turner is among those organizing poppy campaign efforts at the Royal Canadian Legion's East Toronto branch.
Turner said while there are fewer people handing out poppies from his branch this year compared to pre-pandemic times, they still have the same mission - to raise money to support veterans and veteran-assistance programs.
“I have personally seen and given finances to veterans, and seeing the smile on their face when they need assistance and they're getting it, it's worth its weight in gold,” said the 51-year-old.
This year's poppy campaign coincides with the 100th anniversary of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance in Canada.
Bond said the Royal Canadian Legion is marking the anniversary with a number of initiatives. Those include an online offering of commemorative poppy pins that replicate the original 1921 lapel pin, as well as 100 limited-edition pieces of digital artwork meant to preserve the memory of 118,000 fallen Canadian soldiers dating back to 1812.
Other organizations are also marking the 100th anniversary of the poppy.
Canada Post has released a stamp to immortalize the crimson flower and honour the thousands of Canadians who have died in service to their country, while the Royal Canadian Mint has released a commemorative poppy coin.
Numerous Canadian landmarks will be lit up during the poppy campaign period and on Nov. 11 as well.
“People will still have the ability to remember,” Bond said, “despite the pandemic that is still underway.”.
Friday, October 29, 2021
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Verdun Auditorium (we all have had memories of that iconic building)
Scotty Bowman gets the Aud named after him or at least the space dedicated as Espace Scotty Bowman
Monday, August 2, 2021
The Autostade
Just a few random photos I've come across from years ago. I guess I saved these when doing searches for our old VC site.?
However here are some of the pics from the old Autostade. Some photos may appear in smaller format,just increase the size with your wheel mouse or zoomin in.
Just old memories I guess,
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Verdun A great Vid on Youtube walking around Verdun
These young people are pretty cool,and the young guy from Winnipeg does a very nice job,recording video while walking around Verdun.
Thanks for doing that.Here is his video about Verdun,hope you appreciate his work.
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Remember when the Habs could DO Things ....(I hope history repeats itself,however I won't hold my breath)
The triumph of 1971: 50 years ago, the Habs shook the hockey world
The Montreal Canadiens were not expected to go far in the playoffs. Their Stanley Cup win gave the city something to cheer about in difficult times.
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Today, the scene is unimaginable in every detail.
It was May 18, 1971, seven hours before the puck drop for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final between the Canadiens and the Blackhawks. Two men sat chatting in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Chicago. One had a notebook, the other was smoking a pipe.
The man with the notebook had sideburns as wide as his tie. He was the late Ted Blackman, a Gazette columnist at the time. The man smoking the pipe was Jean Béliveau — captain of the Canadiens, himself winner of nine Stanley Cups and counting, arguably the most respected man in hockey.
Béliveau talked openly about the series and his own future. Would this near-miraculous playoff run be his swan song?
After all, the Canadiens weren’t expected to be anywhere near where they found themselves on that day in May. They were supposed to have been sacrificial lambs for the mighty Boston Bruins of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito in the first round of the playoffs. By rights, they should have been honing their golf games by now.
A team with a lesser captain might have folded much earlier that season. The Canadiens were still winding up their exhibition season on Oct. 5, 1970 when the terrorist Front de libération du Québec kidnapped the British consul to Montreal, James Cross, and made a lengthy list of demands for his release, then kidnapped and murdered Quebec Justice Minister Pierre Laporte.
There were military convoys all over the city and armed soldiers on the corners on Ste-Catherine St. If the players somehow managed to keep their heads through it all, it was in large part because of the quiet presence of Béliveau. “What his presence meant to the flock of youngsters on that club,” Blackman wrote, “cannot be fixed in figures.”
Even so, the Canadiens season was supposed to have ended in April. They had finished with 97 points, good for third in the East, 24 points behind the Boston Bruins — their first-round opponent in the playoffs.
When the playoffs began April 7, the Canadiens were given little or no chance, even with rookie Ken Dryden in goal. The first game went pretty much according to form, with Boston winning it, 3-1. Dryden was superb, making 39 saves on 42 shots, but it wasn’t enough.
Going into Game 2, Boston coach Tom Johnson made a fateful decision. Gerry Cheevers had started Game 1 but the Bruins had rotated goalies all season. Johnson went with Eddie Johnston for the second game.
The Canadiens got off to a good start with Yvan Cournoyer scoring the opening goal — but it was 2-1 Boston at the end of the first period and in the second, the Bruins began piling it on as John McKenzie, Wayne Cashman and Derek Sanderson scored to make it 5-1. Henri Richard got an unassisted goal late in the period to make it 5-2 but it didn’t seem to matter.
As the period ended, my friend John X. Cooper and I made our own fateful decision. We decided to leave the glum Mountain St. tavern where we were watching the game and head to the Esquire Show Bar on Stanley St. to hear Buddy Guy. We caught the end of a set and waited for another to begin, fiddling with our beers in the almost empty club. When the musicians returned to the stage, Guy took the microphone and said, “Congratulations, you Montreal fans. Your team won.”
We were stunned. Early in the third period, Béliveau had scored twice to pull the Canadiens within a goal at 5-4. Jacques Lemaire got the tying goal at the 9:59 mark, John Ferguson put the Habs ahead with an assist from Béliveau and Frank Mahovlich iced the cake with 1:20 left: Montreal 7, Boston 5.
If they hadn’t known before, the Bruins did now: they were in a dogfight. The Canadiens won Game 3, 3-1 at the Forum. The Bruins battled back to take Game 4, 5-2, then crushed the Habs 7-3 back in Boston.
The Canadiens returned the favour with an epic 8-3 beatdown at the Forum on April 15, with Richard getting two goals, setting up a Game 7 at Boston Garden. Even the great Orr couldn’t save the doomed Bruins: Frank Mahovlich scored twice, Dryden made 46 saves on 48 shots in a 4-2 win and mighty Boston was eliminated in the first round in one of the great upsets in the history of the game.
After that stunning feat, the semi-final series against the Minnesota North Stars didn’t have the same appeal — it has faded from memory. The Canadiens won it, four games to two, to set up a brilliant final against the Chicago Blackhawks of Bobby and Dennis Hull and Stan Mikita, champions of the West.
It was another series Montreal was supposed to lose. The Blackhawks had taken a three-games-to-two lead in Game 5 in Chicago, when rookie coach Al MacNeil, who had replaced Claude Ruel at mid-season, had benched the fiery Henri Richard for a few shifts as he juggled lines.
Richard exploded. After the game, he called MacNeil “the worst coach I’ve ever played for.”
The remarks roiled a city still recovering from the trauma of the October Crisis. MacNeil received death threats and police had to take them seriously. MacNeil was given police protection everywhere, 24 hours a day for seven days — even behind the bench.
Richard would say later that the incident had been blown out of all proportion. MacNeil, for his part, never wanted to talk about it.
A team that had already been through so much was not to be distracted by the incident or the police protection. MacNeil even had a cop behind the bench with him as his team took Game 6 to set up that pivotal final in Chicago, on the day Béliveau met Blackman with retirement on his mind.
“It would be an easy decision to make if I was fed up with it all,” Béliveau said. “But I still enjoy the practice, the travelling with the fellows, the family atmosphere we have on our team. Nothing has changed in my life in a year that would change the decision I made last year to come back. One thing is different. I’ll be 40 at the end of August. There comes a time. When is it? Does anyone know for sure?”
His GM had already said that he didn’t believe his captain would step down. “He was the first at practice, the last to leave,” said the brilliant Sam Pollock of Béliveau’s season. “He had all the time for hockey. I don’t think Jean has ever given a thought to retirement.”
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“I almost made a decision to retire nine years ago when things were going rough and that would have been a terrible mistake,” Béliveau told Blackman. “When you retire, it’s for a long time. And when you stay, do you know how long you can go? I don’t want to leave halfway through a season or ever have the Canadiens carry me.”
No one, least of all Béliveau himself, knew what would happen as the Canadiens took the ice at Chicago Stadium that evening. They were facing an uphill battle: Chicago was at home, and its stars, the Hull brothers and Mikita, could match anything Montreal could throw at them. And their goalie, Tony Esposito, was no Eddie Johnston.
The game started true to form, with Dennis Hull putting Chicago up late in the first period. Danny O’Shea made it 2-0 Blackhawks in the second period — but then came one of the more glorious shots in the history of the game.
Canadiens centreman Lemaire took the puck in his own zone, skated to centre ice, let rip a slapshot from 75 feet out — and beat Esposito. The Canadiens were back in it and Richard would do the rest. First, he pounced on an odd deflection off the base of the net to tie it at 2-2. Late in the third period, he broke in alone past a falling Keith Magnuson, sent Esposito the wrong way with a deke — and scored the Stanley Cup winning goal.
When the parade was held along the usual route (on Ste-Catherine St., heading east from the Forum), Westmount matrons, wandering hippies, downtown businessmen and fiery separatists were all linked, for one sun-splashed May afternoon, in cheering on their heroes, who were notable for their pallid winter complexions and the welts and bruises visible on their faces, necks and forearms.
Today, the whole passing-the-torch business is mostly a marketing gimmick — but the 1971 championship marked a renewal and rebirth. First, Dryden won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the outstanding player in the playoffs, marking his own ascendance as one of the league’s premier goaltenders.
On June 9, MacNeil, faced with an untenable situation, resigned — his resignation eclipsed by much bigger news: Béliveau had made his decision. He was retiring. At the Queen Elizabeth Hotel the following day, the Canadiens drafted Guy Lafleur with the No. 1 pick. Richard, the firebrand who had made it impossible for MacNeil to remain as coach, was named captain and Scotty Bowman was hired to replace MacNeil.
The torch had been passed.
Thursday, April 8, 2021
We Sure Saw Some Cool Stuff
Just remembering Expo 67's American Pavilion with it's Apollo Spacecraft hanging from the roof of the geodesic dome ,and a lunar lander module on display the same type that would carry men on the moon two years later..........it was an incredible time ,we were lucky to see all that Expo 67 showcased for us. The world was changing for sure.
It's been a while since I posted anything,but it has also been a strange year for all of us. Hopefully more posts to come ,and maybe I will finally dig out some old external hd's that I think have a lot of the old photographs we shared years ago on the VC sites that culminated into this one. Cheers ! Les
This is an excerpt from the following website:
From the roof of the dome were suspended several actual Apollo and Gemini capsules, models of weather and communications satellites
https://www.westland.net/expo67/map-docs/unitedstates.htm
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Montreal way back when 1960's
27 Vintage pics around Montreal from days gone by (no masks,few curfews)
Vintage photos of Montreal in the 1960s
Jun 6 2016, 6:14 pm
Before the high rises, before the skyline we know and love today, Montréal looked quite different. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, and revisit our city in the 1960s.
The old Boulevard Dorchester (before it was René-Lévesque) in 1964
Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Flickr
Metro under construction, 1963
Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Flickr
Building the metro at Parc Viger, 1964
Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Flickr
Designing ceramics at Peel metro station, 1966
Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Flickr
Saint Laurent metro station, 1966
Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Flickr
Sainte Catherine Street at night, 1964
Louis-Philippe Meunier/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Boulevard Dorchester and Place Ville-Marie, 1962
Yvon Bellemare/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Sainte Catherine, 1963
Yvon Bellemare/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Winter on Mount Royal, 1963
Robert Vandensteene/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Montréal, 1966
Maurice Macot/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Orange Julep, Decarie, 1964
Maurice Macot/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Municipal golfing in Montréal, 1964
Robert Vandensteene/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Saint Hubert Street, 1963
Henri Rémillard/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
De La Montagne Street, 1965
Louis-Philippe Meunier/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Saint Catherine Street, 1964
Louis-Philippe Meunier/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Port of Montréal, 1966
Henri Rémillard/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Lac aux Castors, 1965
Maurice Macot/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Saint Hubert Restraurant near Dominion Square, 1965
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Sainte Catherine Street at Saint Christophe, 1961
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
La Ronde, 1967
Louis-Philippe Meunier/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Stanley Cup Parade, 1968
Louis-Philippe Meunier/Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Mount Royal views, 1963
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
James Brown concert at Place des Nations, 1969
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Construction of Place Bonaventure, 1966
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
The Montréal Expos, 1969
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
Debut game at Jarry Park Stadium, 1969
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
And one more of the beautiful Saint Catherine Street, 1969
Archives de la Ville de Montréal
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