Thursday, May 26, 2011

BPG - Bell Pensioners' Group and memories

I attended the annual BPG meeting yesterday here in Toronto. The meeting was moved for the first time from the Mississauga location to a more central location on the Yonge North subway line ... a very easy commute for me and hopefully for others as well.

Membership in BPG continues to be an issue so this is a bit of a 'pitch' to any Bell pensioners who read my blog but have not yet given their $20.00 to join BPG. Please join - much work is needed to protect our pensions in the future and $20.00 is a very small price to pay for the good work the BPG Board is doing on our behalf. I am no longer on the board but I know how hard these pensioners work on our behalf.

There is a much-loved social hour before each of these meetings. We gather at 11 am while the actual meeting begins at 12 noon so we have a full hour to catch up. It was Russ Donaldson's 75th birthday so we got to congratulate Russ for example. Dave Hall and I always find a few minutes to chat - Dave was the Manager of our Rouge River hockey team and for years and years we could all be found at the annual Bell hockey tournament - and for years and years Dave's team won the big trophy!

One of my favourite memories of time with Dave (or Davey as we called him then) was when Danny Bell and I had dinner with Dave and his wife to celebrate - was it his 20th anniversary with Bell? That detail I don't remember but it was a significant milestone. We had drinks at their beautiful home and then went off to dinner. A good time was had by all. Of course, that memory makes me think of Danny who we lost far too soon to cancer. Danny was 50 years old when he fought a very brief but oh-so-tough battle with this damn killer disease. We all miss him still. I try to keep in touch with Carolyn, Danny's sister, and our conversations turn to Danny so easily. Remembering is a good thing.

Today is yet another rainy day. Jalen has ball hockey playoffs all weekend so I will be heading north tomorrow and will have many photos to share on Monday. Here's hoping the forecast for rain all weekend is not accurate.

Love
Carol Ann
PS - Please don't forget to join BPG if you have not done so.

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