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

Tweedsmuir Report ~ By Tweedsmuir Coordinator, Irene Robillard A master list ofall Branches, past and present, in Ontario is now available. All of the Tweedsmuir information received from the 2009 request to Districts has been included. As only 60% of the Districts responded, it is hoped Members can fill in some blanks. The location of Tweedsmuir Collections has been noted for more than 1,000 Branches/Districts/Areas. For those ofyou who use the internet, the main portions of this master list are now on the public portion of our website. The chart contains a list of 2,000+ Branches, sorted by District, including inception and disbandment dates, as well as the location of Tweedsmuir books. In the Member‘s Section of the website, there is a new “Tweedsmuir” Section. It contains the draft Tweedsmuir Manual, as well as a chart with further information on the Tweedsmuir books. Additions will be added in the future. Please take time to review. Feedback is much appreciated. If you are not computer savvy, please contact me and I will forward your District’s portion of the chart. The OGS digitizing project has made little progress this year. Hopefully, 2013 will see things rolling. We are looking forward to your 2013 reports to hear of new topics being added to your Tweedsmuir books, plus other projects. Within my own District, longâ€"time Members are being interviewed so that their memories will not be forgotten. Please read on for details on an exciting new project â€" Canada 150. Canada 150 â€" Do You Have a Story To Tell? Canada will be celebrating its 150th Anniversary in 2017. "Canada 150” was created as a historyâ€"gathering project and is encouraging the recording of the lives, histories, and memories of Canadians, their communities, and businesses/organizations for future generations. The intent is to collect 1.5 million stories and present them to the Governor General on July 1, 2017 â€" less than 5 years from now. The FWIO was invited to be a founding partner of the Canada 150 initiative and we accepted. This was an opportunity we could not ignore. Canada 150 is exactly what we have already been doing through our Tweedsmuir Community History Collections. This project will showcase our accomplishments and provide excellent promotion and publicity for the WI. Individual Members are encouraged to write their stories. Check out the website, www.canada150.com. There you will find a free eâ€"book to download or print. It gives an excellent method for a person to start writing their life memories, amongst other things. The FWIO is also to choose at least one project for a Canada 150 initiative. We are asking Members for suggestions for provinceâ€"wide projects. A plan is currently being developed to determine the project(s) by mid 2013. Stay tuned for further information. The end product does not necessarily mean a traditional published book. It could be an e-book. It does not even have to be a book. Canada 150 has made an agreement with the company, Canadiana, to host and maintain digital collections of stories, photos, and videos that will be received. So the product could be a photo with an explanation or a video of Members’ reminiscences. Other topics for projects could be documenting WI community buildings; housewives’ hints, remedies, and tools; farms that have been in the same family for 150 years; “Stories from the Great Depression"; memories of the 19605/19705; inspirational stories of going through a tough time; etc. Perhaps we could collaborate with another rural organization for a project. The topics are endless. Let’s get involved, spread the word, and capture the stories of ourselves, our family, and our community. Irene can be contacted by email (tweedsmuircoordinator@fwio.on.ca), phone (613â€"432â€"6987), or mail ( 1075 Calabogie Road, RR 1, Renfrew, ON K7V 3Z4). ‘ waldmfigyl