The other day, I was looking at some old photographs that had to do with my parents - Jim and Marie. The photographs were not of my parents, but about my parents. They featured friends of theirs who had taken photos of themselves sitting on and around a bench on the pier at Port Dover that my sister Gillian and I had commemorated in our parent’s honour after they died.
My parents’ friends were celebrating my dad’s birthday. They had tied balloons to the bench. I could read my parent’s names on the back of the bench in the photos. That simple act of memory and of friendship, meant a lot to me. It told me my parents were still being remembered years after they had died. And that got me thinking about Hamilton. And about benches. And about memories. Our collective memories. As Hamiltonians. So, I asked my Councillor, Jason Farr, if he knew if we had a commemorative bench program. What I found out is what this edition of The Cityist is all about.
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The Graham Crawford Show with your host, Graham Crawford
Executive Producer: Alex Zafer
All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.