FIRST EMAIL - BEFORE RETURNING TO CHURCHILL

I lived in Churchill from July 1951 to December 1953. At that time the armed forces base was in operation my husband was stationed there and my son was born there in March 1953. To celebrate his 50th birthday this year we are going to return for the first time and see the town. No doubt I shall not recognize much 50 years is a long time to stay away.

In my days up there unfortunately there was no resettlement program for the bears who wandered into town on a regular basis. The Mounties tried to scare them away and if they didn't go they were shot. There was also a whaling factory where the belugas were rendered down. Thankfully these practises are long gone.

We are going to Churchill mid-September, between the bug season and the bear season. Even after 50 years the memory of the bugs is quite vivid, and we aren't able to get away for the bears.

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SECOND EMAIL - AFTER THE VISIT TO CHURCHILL

Hi there once again,

I emailed you not too long ago about my son and I going to Churchill to celebrate his 50th birthday because he was born there. Well we have been there and returned safely home and had a wonderful time. I was quite surprised at the many changes as I had expected, though after 50 years I assume most places have changed somewhat. When I lived there the population was around 7,000 people because of the military base. I understand it is around 800 today. What was once the base has vanished except for one building. I was impressed with the interpretive center at the station as well as the museum next to the church. Unfortunately we did not see any bears but we hadn't expected to really. We did spend one whole day on every available road and saw owls, hares, foxes and any number of birds.

My son was very impressed and I was most fortunate to meet the son of a dear friend I had while living there.

We had such a great visit. We have decided to return next summer for 3 days to see the whales. I don't know exactly when we shall get up there but we shall try our best to arrange schedules. Have you been there in summer? I must say what I remember most about that season is the huge flies. We enjoyed every minute of the stay, ate every meal at Gypsy's and the Churchill Motel was fine.

Contributed by Jean, Vancouver, British Columbia