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her with ten rolls of film, telling her not to bring unexposed film back with her. Luckily many aspects of The Weston Girls’ trip of a lifetime was captured on film. The girls returned to Canada July 7, 1953. Each went back to share their stories and lessons. Jean toured the countryside that fall, always with her dad, and showed her movies and spoke to as many people as she could about the greater world she got to experience. Time did as time does, it moved on. Many of the girls married, many moved away from their farms and went great distances across Canada. The years scat- tered them all throughout the years and then before the Queen’s Jubilee in Cal- gary in 2003, coming up to the 50th an- niversary of the coronation, and the girl's trip, it was decided to have a reunion. Incredibly, 43 of the original Weston Girls were found. Only three had died and some were not able to travel so their reunion saw 34 of them get together to share half a century of memories. This year Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60 years as Queen. Although ‘The Weston Girls’ attended the corona- tion 59 years ago, they have decided to cel- ebrate with the Queen this year and have their Jean attended the Coronation of A reunion the first week- Queen Elizabeth II end in June, in Burling- in London, England _ to on June 2, 1953 5 Previous reunions were held in Ottawa, St. John’s and Victoria so the Ontario girls are looking forward to hosting this special one. They have an excellent lineup of cultural events to attend, from a play at the Shaw Festival, to the McMichael Gallery, the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton and a formal Saturday night banquet. A special Sunday morning breakfast will coincide with the showing on television of the Royal Flotilla on the Thames River in London, which is a large event for the Queen’s celebrations. eee For the first time ever, there will be no Westons attending a get together or reunion. The entire Weston family has been invited to Britain for the celebrations and, as Jean Bailey says, “We will very The ‘Weston Girls’ will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II at a reunion this July in Burlingon much miss their presence but they deserve so much to be there. They have contributed an incredible amount of time, money and goodwill to making our world a better place.” They will record their reunion so it can be shared with those who cannot attend. For purposes of space, Jean’s story has been con- densed. Luckily, three years ago the ladies wrote a book called “Weston Girls Tour Memory Book 1953”. A good portion of their story is on line at www.westongirlstour.ca. Jean’s father’s movie camera purchase has enabled the film over time to be transferred into many incarna- tions, the last one being a DVD. Jean has taken every advantage of the magical gift she was given as a 17 year-old girl. Never as a young girl at SS. No. 2 School on Scugog Island, could Jean have imagined the path her life would take. She is beyond thankful at the opportunity she was given. She says sometimes its hard to put into words all she experienced. She tells me something so clear she remem- bers it as if it was yesterday. Newfoundland became a province in 1949. When the girls returned and met with Mr. Weston, and shared what they learned, the farm girl from Newfoundland stood up and said, “When I left Canada I was a Newfoundlander. I have returned home aCanadian.” And so they all did. By Marjorie Fleming Focus on Scugog FOCUS -JUNE 2012 7