The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ust as producers of The Scugog Choral Society’s newest venture - Opera- tion Daddy: Here Come the War Brides hit their stride in rehearsal, they collaborated with Betty Penny, owner of The Woodman to treat a dozen or so Canadian war brides and their spouses to a nostalgic voyage “back on the boat” - 60 years later! Diana Perry, who leaned on her second husband Norm’s arm because she couldn’t bring her scooter, reminisced about years spent in the Auxiliary Territorial Service while making her way up the gangplank. She recounted meeting her late first hus- band in London during the war. With 2006 being the declared Year of the War Bride in many provinces and Liz Simpson’s eager research into her grand- mother’s experience as impetus, Operation Daddy couldn’t be more timely. Forty-eight thousand brides and twenty-four thousand children arrived in Canada by ship in just the year 1946 when many of these war brides landed. Among them Martha Stauffer, who now shawa. uise with husband Wilson whom she met while work- ing as a bus conductress in Sterling (north residesin O: b A of Edinborough, Scotland). “He was on his way back from leave,” she explains. “She trapped me,” Wilson jokes, and then continues more seriously, “I walked her home that night and the rest is history.” They were excited to participate in the writing of the show by sharing stories and photographs. Martha is the pride of her three children, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She says she'll take in at least one performance of Operation Dad- dy running at Town Hall 1873 in Port Perry from November 16th to December 2nd. Port Perry resident, Janet Nelson, who met late husband Orville in a dance hall in Oakham was also happy to be part of the show. The grandmother of five had a much earlier arrival than most war brides landing in Canada in 1939-40. Some women came from much farther afield for the cruise as did Pat Labatt (@ Courtice resident). She also met her late husband while dancing in Folkstown “next to the White Cliffs of Dover” starting a 55- year-long marriage. After marrying in 1944 and giving birth to a daughter in 1946, she boarded the Aquitania (1946) for the trip to Canada. Here she had two sons and sprout- ed a family tree that boasts 11 grandchil- dren and 11 great-grandchildren. “It’s won- derful to have our stories passed on to the JED 20) - 60%, OF E Shoe & Boot inventory 4 SALE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER r TO ‘6TH 12 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2006 WAR BR ~ Scugog’s women of war provide material for original new musical cS younger generation,” she comments about And what better way than through mu- sic to rekindle the romance and spontaneity that prompted those relationships between young British women and Canadian serv- icemen stationed in the U.K. during W.W. A 41-member cast will weave tales of meaningful encounters with famous show- stoppers, touching ballads and the swing- ing sounds of Big Band orchestras of the time. The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays for three weekends (8 pm. cur- tain) with Saturday matinees at 2 pm. on November 18th, 25th and December 6th. Tickets are available from Henshall’s (905-985-1963) and Starticketing (1-866- 808-2006). For background information on the creation of Operation Daddy: Here Come the War Brides, check http://op- eration-daddy.tripod.com. Judy Anderson, producer of the show will happily field all inquiries regarding the show or The Scu- gog Choral Society (www.powergate.ca/ ~scugogchoralsociety or 905-985-4257). By Barbara Hunt Photo top left: The Scugog War Brides are, front (left to right), Janet Nelson, Brenda Wilson. Centre row from left, Pat Elliott, May Cotter, Diana Perry, Martha Stauffer, Joan Cohan, Rita Goddard. Back, from left, Pat Labatt, Kathleen Loates. Photo by J. Peter Hvidsten focus@observerpub.ca