To Celebrate Commonwealth Day - A Vanuatu Cook Book Index

Today is Commonwealth Day!

The theme for this year is "A Connected Commonwealth".

To learn more, see The Commonwealth website or social media. This is a special year, the 70th anniversary of the London Declaration making all member states of the Commonwealth equal members. If you are interested in the Commonwealth, I previously wrote an article which gives links to more about Canada's history in the Commonwealth which I hope you'll find useful.

The hashtags are  #CommonwealthDay  #ConnectedCommonwealth

To celebrate, I've indexed another recipe book from my cook book collection, this time the Vanuatu Red Cross Society Cook Book. This was originally published in 1947 to raise funds for "Food for Britain" and the French "Sons of the Fallen". The book was reprinted in 1985.

The Republic of  Vanuatu joined the Commonwealth in 1980 after gaining independence having been under French - British administration since 1906. Here is the official Vanuatu Travel website; there is more about local food there.

If anyone in your family is listed in this Index, contact me and I'll send you the information as in the book. One of the recipes is for Gateau Diane, but I don't think the woman who submitted it was a relative of mine.

Names are transcribed as in the book and I make no judgements about who is who. L. Ovens may be Lois Ovens, for instance. A few restaurants gave recipes. I've included them here as I thought they might be of interest if a family member worked in one. A few people have a residence note.

View the Vanuatu Red Cross Society Cook Book Index here. (Use Control & F on your keyboard or your browser's Find to search this table.)

Andre Gerard - Erakor Island Resort
Anthony	Sybil
Applegate	Mary
Baldwin		Mrs.
Baldwin	M
Bancroft	Anne	Mrs.
Barret	Viv
Blake	Fran
Bochenska	Pat
Bochenska	P
Bochenska	H
Buckley	Hilda	Mrs.
Campbell	Tania
Campbell	D
Campbell	Avon
Campbell	Tania
Dharambir	S M
Doole	Helen		Pukekohe, N. Z.
Downie	Betty
Duch	Paule		Santos
Durney	Carol
Easias	Mayble
Geddes	Dilys
Harbulot	L
Heseltine	Jean
Holloway	J P
Hotel Le Lagon
Hotel Santo
Kwang Tung Restaurant
Lickley	P
Makalipu	John
McDonald	Sonia
Mitchell	Patricia
Mitchell	P
Mr Bernard. Café de Paris
Natu	Gilbert
Naulivou	S
Oven	Lois	Mrs.
Ovens	L
Ovens	Lois
Palise	Jill		Erakor Island
R D Bir. Solaise Hotel
rau deu Bremt	Rocienne
Renoux	Helen
Renoux	H
Renovy	H
Restaurant Ichise
Richard D Bir - Solaise Hotel
Russell Jolly - Chef Le Rendezvous
Saunders	Mary Clare
The Cottage Restaurant
Trebilco	Debbie	Mrs.
Trebilco	Debbie
Tunidau	M
Turner	Barbara	Mrs.
Turner	B
Vaag	Joy
Victor	Lilly		Mosso Island
Weinberg	Bambi
Westwater	Jean
Wilson	J
Wilson	Aileen
Wilson	Jo
Woodward	Wendy

Politics in the Family: Carnival of Genealogy - 59th Edition

Although I don't know that much about my ancestors' political views, I suspect they were often far more conservative than my own. My grandmother, born in 1884 in Manitoba, did tell me that she didn't remember much interest in women's suffrage, for instance, in her town, even though Manitoba was the first Canadian province to give women the vote. On the other hand, I heard from her that many of my Manitoba relatives (mostly Presbyterians) were interested in controlling or eliminating the availability of liquor, an interest which was at many times, almost synonymous with the campaign for women's suffrage.

Both my own parents were very interested in British Columbian and Canadian politics. My father was elected to the School Board in Vancouver, B.C. in the 1950's and he continued to work in civic and provincial politics for many years. I went to School Board meetings as a little girl apparently (sadly I don't remember) but political 'discussions' were frequent at our dinner table (especially when I was in my teens and then at university!) and I can remember attending and even helping at many teas and meetings.

Many have found British Columbia politics to be entertaining, puzzling, intriguing, and often annoying, but most will agree we've at least had colourful politicians right from the start in 1858 - 150 years ago.

My parents, originally 'young Liberals', became supporters of the British Columbia Social Credit League in British Columbia, I believe, in 1951 or '52. In 1952, William Andrew Cecil Bennett, formerly a Progressive Conservative, a Coalitionist (Liberal-Conservative) and an Independent, became the leader of the Social Credit League and the Premier of our province, a position he held continuously till 1972.

Many former Liberals and Conservatives joined the party in the early 1950's. Whatever else one may say about him, W.A.C. Bennett (known often by both supporters and detractors as 'Wacky' Bennett) forged a very British Columbian political party in both style and content.

Some time ago I found a Social Credit Women's Auxiliary Cookbook [c. 1954] and indexed the names of recipe contributors from Mrs. William Aberhart and Mrs. Robert Accand to Mrs. M. B. Wright and Mrs. Alex Yuchym. Mrs. Aberhart (Jessie Flatt) was the wife of the founder of Social Credit in Alberta, Canada, but many of the names are of 'ordinary people' from British Columbia. You may notice that Buda Brown, who I've mentioned before, doesn't have a recipe in the cookbook. I believe she and her husband, who had been a Coalitionist and was defeated in 1952, may not have joined the party till 1954 or 1955. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd have contributed one - perhaps a bread recipe since her husband was an owner of Wild Rose Mills in Vancouver and she apparently was known for her bread baking.

Have a look at my index, posted on Rootsweb, to see if any of your British Columbia family members are listed.

Surnames A - L: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/can-british-columbia/2005-04/1112756714

Surnames M - Y: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/can-british-columbia/2005-04/1112757110

Buda Brown: Women and the Vote in British Columbia, 1956: http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2008/10/buda-brown-women-and-vote-in-british.html