Team Name: Navan Clueminati
Team Members:
Sheila Minogue-Calver (WI)
Erin Forman (WI)
Trudy Irwin (WI)
Deborah Noble (Community Member)
Well, here we are in Dunrobin, Ontario having the BEST day out. After real and virtual isolation this fall
and winter, it sure was a treat to enjoy each other’s company and have a day ‘OUT’! After a bit of research, we discovered that there was a Women’s Institute plaque at the crossroads in Dunrobin, just west of Ottawa, to honour the Younghusband family. After about an hour’s drive, and to our chortles and giggles, with an unsteady scramble through snowbanks and icy paths, we gingerly positioned ourselves for a ‘selfie’. Alas, our arms were not long enough to include all four, so Erin graciously agreed to take the photo. We did take several photos that included all members of our party of four, but I see that one photo is to be included with this submission.
We were overwhelmed with a sense of history as we read the inscription on the plaque which reads:
“Mr. and Mrs. Henry Younghusband started a store here at the corner of Dunrobin Road and Thomas Dolan Road in 1861. The Dunrobin post office open here on January 1, 1864. The Dunrobin post office opened here with the Younghusbands as the first Postmasters. Mrs. Younghusband named the post office “Dunrobin” after her birth place in Scotland, but until 1871 it was officially referred to as Torbolton. June 1985, when the store was sold, was the first time since 1861 that this store was not owned by direct descendant of Henry
Younghusband. The store was torn down in 2008. This commemorative plaque was installed in 2018, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Dunrobin and district women’s Institute.” It is a testament to the honour that community holds for Women’s Institute Members. It was our luck to have chosen this site, coincidentally ‘kittercorner” from an unusual but delightful gift shop and lunch cafe.
The gift shop was in a reconstructed yurt, after the original yurt had been destroyed in a devastating tornado in 2018. We were very interested to hear the stories (from the Café owner) of how the community pulled together, supporting each other following the disaster, over a delicious and and homemade lunch. One of us even scored a delicious take-out roast pork dinner! The scavenger hunt day was a really uplifting experience for all of us. What a great way to celebrate a WI anniversary.
