Quarriers descendants return to the Village
On Tuesday 31st May 2005, descendents of Catherine Scott Walls, a Quarriers Homes child who emigrated to Canada in 1886 returned to Quarriers Village to trace the life of their great-grandmother for Past Lives, a Canadian TV documentary being filmed in Scotland during May.
Catherine Scott Walls, who was also known as Catherine Wales Scott was born on 11th April 1886 and lived in Quarriers Village between 1890 and 1896. She set sail for a new life in Canada on the SS Siberian on the 29th May 1896, from Greenock.
Catherine came to Quarriers due to the separation of her parents and her mother having to work as a 'domestic'. She wasn't an orphan but came from a financially deprived family and a broken home.
Catherine's grand-daughter Barbara Young, who is still alive today, was unable to make the journey to Scotland, due to ill-health, but her book 'Chasing Grandma' will be presented to Phil Robinson, chief executive of Quarriers. Barbara Young currently lives in Pointe Claire, Quebec.
Barbara's children - Peter Young and Mary Elizabeth Hammer -were reunited at Quarriers on 31st May after 4 years apart. They last met at the book launch for 'Chasing Grandma'. Peter now lives near Brighton, England and Mary lives near Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
Quarriers provides support and care for adults and children with a physical or learning disability, for children and families facing poverty, family breakdown, exclusion and disadvantage and for young people with social, emotional or behavioural difficulties, or who are homeless. Quarriers also offers support to carers of all ages who need respite, advice or just a friend to listen, it also has the only residential epilepsy assessment centre in Scotland.
Quarriers has grown considerably since it was founded by William Quarrier during the 1870s, expanding to meet the needs of children, adults and families all over Scotland - and beyond. Staff numbers are now in excess of 1500 and the charity has an expected turnover of £35 million for 2005.
This information and further details from Jane Smith/Carol Anderson at The Business
T: 0131 718 6022
M: 07780 666 136 / 07836 546 256
E: janes@thebusinesspr.co.uk
Notes to editors
Photographs from the presentation on 31st May 2005 will be available from The Business, at no additional cost, by contacting Jane Smith.
Past Lives is produced by Montreal-based Productions Bleu Blanc Rouge Inc., a member of Equipe Spectra. Now in its third season, the 13 episode series (30 minutes per episode) airs on Canadian broadcaster Global TV's Prime network.
The series features the stories of Canadians who have unearthed fascinating nuggets of history while digging through their ancestral roots. These personal family histories open a doorway to the past and serve to connect us to the larger, significant historical events that surround them. The subjects for the documentary live across Canada and come from a variety of cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds. What they share in common is a desire to know more about their roots.
Some of the other episodes being filmed for this season include:
The story of a retired Japanese-Canadian surgeon from Edmonton who's family was placed in a British Columbia internment camp (due to a government policy that affected over 22,000 Japanese-Canadians) during WWII.
The story of a former Prima Ballerina from Latvia and her family's voyage to Canada after the advent of Stalinism in 1940.
A Native man from the Pottawatomie tribe tells the story of his people's migration north from the United States to the Georgian Bay region of Ontario as a result of the U.S. Indian Wars in the early 1800's.
