The Lorne Scots Regimental Association Newsletter May 2025
- Capt (Ret'd) Stewart Sherriff, CD
- 4 minutes ago
- 7 min read
May Day
The traditional start to Summer. Another excuse for parties and celebrations. Please make sure that your bonfires, maypole dancing and other celebrations are done responsibly.
This edition looks back over the end of that dull grey winter and into the coming events of the summer season.
Association Annual General Meeting
The AGM was held on Sunday, 27 April at the Brampton Armoury. 23 members attended in person and 11 members used the online option. The serving regiment was busy instructing on courses or participating in EX TRILLIUM VENTURE, a mass casualty, emergency response exercise being conducted across the province between 24 and 27 April so their numbers were low but the CO and RSM were able to attend. The Honorary Colonel and several members of the Senate were also able to attend. Guests at the meeting included Peel Police RSM Bill Richel and Museum Director of Collections Mr. Ryan Goldsworthy along with his college placement student Mr. Ben Smith.
The highlight of the day was the election of the Board of Directors for 2025 – 2027.
President Stewart Sherriff announced that he would not be standing for re-election as he felt that he had been with the Board for far too many years now (It has been over 30; he says he can’t remember when he started). He did express his thanks to all who have put up with him over the last two years and longer.
There was one vote to decide the position of Secretary, while all the other positions were acclaimed. The vote between Mr. Scott Ching and Ms. Andrea Katona-Smith saw the position go to Mr. Ching. Congratulations Scott and thank you to Andrea for standing.
Thanks to all those who had served and all who had stood for election or re-election were expressed by the outgoing President, Honorary Colonel and Commanding Officer.
The Board for 2025 -2027 will be:
President | LCol (Ret’d) Ross Welsh |
|---|---|
Vice President | WO (Ret’d) John Colter |
Treasurer | Capt (Retd) Steve Hurst |
Secretary | Mr. Scott Ching |
Cadet Liaison | Maj (Ret’d) Gillian Federico |
Community Liaison | WO (Ret’d) Henry Verschuren |
Media | Cpl Darren Kowlessar |
Membership | Cpl Robin Schavo |
Museum | LCol (Ret’d) William Adcock |
Social | Cpl Charles Veale |
If anyone wants to contact any of the Board of Directors, they can be reached by email. The addresses are (job title)@lornescots.ca
All the best to the Board for their coming term.
Recognition for members of the Regimental Family
The Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III took place on the 6th of May 2023. The first Canadian Coronation medals were presented on the 6th of May 2024 and are continuing to be presented as this edition is being written.
The Regimental Family has received a good number of these medals. The serving Regiment received eight, which were presented at the Soldiers Dinner last December. Since then, WO (Ret’d) Henry Verschuren, LCol(Ret’d) Jerry Derochie, LCol (Ret’d) William Adcock, Col (Ret’d) Craig Hayman, Col (Ret’d) Gary Reamey, Col (Ret’d) John McDermid, Col Gary Love, Mr. Scott Ching, Maj (Ret’d) Gillian Federico, 2Lt (Ret’d) Rob Walsh, LCol (Ret’d) Robin Hesler, Sgt (Ret’d) Brian Docherty, Sgt (Ret'd) Chris Banks and Capt Satish Tarachandra, Commanding Officer of 2990 Cadet Corps in Milton have all received the medal.
In addition, the RSMs of 557, 1188 and 2990 Cadet Corps have all also received the medal. It is a rare event when a Cadet receives a national honour like a Coronation medal and to have three receive one is an amazing feat.
Congratulations to all who have received the medal and our apologies to anyone not mentioned who has received the medal.
Museum musings
The Regimental Museum is continuing to move forward. Our visitor count is up to just a few people below 2,000 since opening and we have two and a half weeks to go to finish our first year.
We are receiving requests for information about former members of the Regiment more often now. One was looking for pictures about John M Cummins from Georgetown. He was in the Regiment in the early 1960s. Life after university took him out West and into politics there. He was leader of the BC Conservative Party from 2011 to 2013. He passed away earlier this year.
Is there anyone who served with him or has any pictures or stories that can be passed to his family? If you do, please contact museum@lornescots.ca
The Museum will be launching a new display to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day on Thurs 08 May. Director of Collections and Research Ryan Goldsworthy will be giving a short presentation before unveiling the display and there will be a short reception to follow in the Officers Mess. The event begins at 7:00 PM and is free.
As ever, there is a need for volunteers to help keep the Museum growing. Whether greeting visitors, working behind the scenes with the collection and archive, helping to market the Museum or many other tasks, there is a job for you if you are interested. Once again contact the Museum at museum@lornescots.ca and let us know what you are interested in doing or what useful talent you have, when you are available, and we will be in touch.
Information for the fishing folk
Here is another reason to get your Veterans Service Card (NDI 75).
The card can save you the cost of fishing licence in Ontario. Serving military and retired veterans who are resident in Ontario can use their military ID (NDI 20) or Veterans Service Card (NDI 75) in place of a fishing licence. You can find out more about the Veterans service Card at
If you haven’t got an NDI 75, you can apply for one at https://veterans-service-card.canada.ca/en/
If you are serving or a veteran and want to go salmon fishing on Lake Ontario, LCol (Ret’d) Guy Smith has a deal for you. A former Lorne Scot, he founded the Veterans Salmon Derby in 2011 to provide serving members and veterans with a fun day out on the water to help with service-related mental health issues The Derby will be happening out of Bronte Harbour on Sat June 14th.
You can find out more about the Derby and how to register at https://vetssalmonderby.ca
The Run for Veterans
The Run was held at Chinguacousy Park on April 12th. Run founder and co-ordinator Henry Verschuren has reported that this year the number of runners increased to over 180, up
from 126 last year He also said that it looks like there will be a good increase in the amount of funds raised and that there are still some donations coming in.
Pictures from the day can be seen on the Association Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LornescotsRA. Take a look to see how many people you know who took part.
Congratulations to Dufferin Company, the Regimental Admin Support Company who had a big turnout and raised a lot of money for the cause.
If anyone knows where the team take home trophy from previous years is, would you please let Henry know, he wants to get it back.
Henry did say last year that he was looking for help in both organising and conducting the run. So, if you are interested in getting involved with a very worthwhile event, please do reach out to him at henryver@rogers.ca
Congratulations to all who worked hard to make this year’s Run another tremendous
success.
Mental Health and Peer Support
The series of workshops planned by Paul Hale went very well but the numbers taking part were low. However, this was just the start. Paul is still looking to grow this project. He is still looking for the spouse of a veteran to represent the family side of veteran’s mental health issues on the committee set up to oversee the program.
If you are interested in taking on this position or helping in any way with the program, contact Paul at paulhale3vp@yahoo.ca
Get on the GO for FREE!
Metrolinx, the operating body for GO Transit has announced that as of 01 March 2025, serving members of the CF (Regular and reserve) and veterans can use GO Transit for free by showing their military ID or Veterans Service Card in place of a ticket.
For PRESTO card holders, you can add the military discount to your card. You can find out more about this benefit at https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-on-go/veterans-and-caf
Thanks to Rob Stewart for pointing out this story.
Coming Events
The Annual Ceremonial Review (ACR) season for the Cadet Corps is fast approaching. ACRs mark the end of the training year for a Cadet Corps. If you are a former cadet from one of the Corps or want to show your support to them, please attend your local ACR. Here are the dates and locations..
The Col Thomas M Dunn Softball Tournament
Will be held on Sat 12 Jul at Duggan Park, 75 Vodden St East. Teams from the Cadet Corps, Regiment and Association are being sought. Start organising a team now or just plan to come out and cheer on the players. More details will be posted
on our social media shortly.
The Col Frank Ching Golf Tournament
Will be held on Mon 01 Sept at Acton Golf Club, 4955 Dublin Rd, Acton. You can sign up as a single golfer or organise a foursome. If you aren’t a player, you can be a sponsor or donate a prize for the raffle. You can also volunteer to help at the event.
Start planning and details will be posted as we get closer to the date.
How to contribute to the Newsletter
If you have a story about an upcoming event, want to pass on how an event went or something that may be of interest to the Regimental Family, please send a short write-up (100 – 150 words or so) with one or two good quality pictures to the President at president@lornescots.com
Please ensure that all people in any submitted pictures have agreed to have their images posted. The Association will assume that such permissions have been acquired before the picture was submitted.
The Association reserves the right to vet all submissions for appropriateness before posting. Items may not be deemed suitable for posting due to inappropriate language or content. Items submitted will reviewed for factual accuracy and may be edited for length.
Any mistakes which may occur are entirely accidental and no malice or harm is ever intended.