Speaker Schedule
March’s Speaker Session
March 17, 2020
CLIMATE EMERGENCY? WHERE’S THE EXIT?
Ginny Colling
April’s Speaker
April 21, 2020
“NIGHT MADNESS: A REAR GUNNER’S TALE OF LOVE,
COURAGE, ADVERSITY AND HOPE IN WWII”
Richard Pyves
A 16-year-old Swedish student sparks worldwide school climate strikes. The U.N.’s climate scientists tell us we have until 2030 to fend off climate catastrophe.
How did we get here? Is it really that bad? How are we feeling the effects here in Canada, in Durham Region, in Scugog? This dynamic AV presentation answers these questions. It also looks at the science behind climate disruption, what is being done to reduce it, and how each of us can pitch in to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable future for us all.
About Ginny Colling
Since retiring from a long career teaching in the Durham College Journalism and Public Relations programs, Ginny has focused her attention on environmental issues. In 2017, she trained with former Vice-President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore as a volunteer Climate Reality Leader. Since then she has given many presentations throughout Durham and The City of the Kawartha Lakes. Her audiences have included CKL council, the Peterborough museum, Amnesty International, Durham Lifelong Learning, church congregations, and a variety of special interest clubs.
Ginny is a member of the CKL Environmental Advisory Committee, its Plastics subcommittee, and was also on the working group that helped shape the city’s Healthy Environment Plan, which was adopted last year. She is also a member of the PROBUS Club of Port Perry.
Richard Pyves will discuss highlights from his book titled Night Madness. The book chronicles the incredible story of Ron Pyves, a teenager who fought as a tail-gunner over the war torn skies of Europe during those last deadly months to eliminate Hitler's hold over Europe. For 35 harrowing nights, Ron and his crew flew out from the Scottish coast, deep into the Rhineland. Despite skies dark with Messerschmitts and deadly anti-aircraft flak, they returned to home-base, only to face the fight, night after night. Breaking all odds for a tail-gunner, Ron made it through the war physically intact, only to face a new battle on the home front - fighting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by the memories of battle and his participation in the deadly bombing of Dresden.
Based on interviews, painstaking archival research, and a long-distance love affair captured in daily correspondence, Rick Pyves weaves together a touching love story and one man's very personal war.
Rick Pyves is a published author, avid historian and genealogist who grew up in Montreal, Quebec. Rick is a graduate of Concordia (Sir George Williams) University and McGill University and holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing.