Sprout Returns to Deep River

Ever since I was wee Deep River has been in my conciousness as this slightly mystical far-away place where I was born. I visited in 1992 at the age of 12 and at that kind of age you're not really taking huge amounts in. I've wanted to visit again for years so when we decided to do this trip, I was adamant that we should include a big North American leg partly in order for me to do that. There's also a host of names that are familiar that I wanted to find out about so my mission in Deep River was to renew as many contacts as possible. Oddly enough, I was a little nervous as after all these years of thinking about Deep River, what if I didn't like it?

We were met off the bus by Alistair and Margaret Miller. Like most people in Deep River, Alistair (originally from Broxburn) worked (and still does although much more informally) at the AECL plant in Chalk River just down the road but it was really though the Deep River Community Church that he and Margaret knew my parents. We'd managed to renew contact with them mainly due to the fact that Alistair is a very keen emailler. They have a lovely house in Darwin - many of the streets in Deep River are named after scientists as it was purpose built to house the Chalk River workers who would all be scientists. The streets that are not named after scientists seem to be mostly named after trees. They gave us lunch and we identified a common interest in baking through the fact that they served us little home made roll-type buns which we took a great liking to. Like many of the other foods we've sampled on this trip, you can find them in the recipes section. Charlotte had been suffering from a cold for the last few days and the bus ride from Ottawa had made her feel particularly rough so she decided to take a nap. I was keen to get out and have a look around so I wandered off with a map and a couple of addresses I wanted to look up.

The first thing that struck me was how pretty it is - when I last visited I guess I wasn't really into appreciating nice houses and landscapes. It's surprising that it is a nice looking place, as if you think of other purpose-built towns (Linvingston, Glenrothes, Milton Keynes), 'pretty' is certainly not a word you'd tend to use. Looks like the Deep River planners got it right. It's not hard to see how, mind, as it's right on the banks of the Ottawa River (the "Deep River" in question) so the location really is lovely. It wasn't long before I found my parents' old house (35, Hillcrest), their church (the Community Church in Deep River Road), the centennial plaque by the river (recently done up) and the founding plaque where I'd had my photo taken in 1992. Given that I was on my own, I just took a couple of photos there and made plans to come back with Charlotte so the 1992 photo could be replicated.

It was all a bit like a dream - literally as I had dreamt so many times about coming back. It all seemed oddly familiar as well, partly through visiting in 1992 but mainly through the number of photos I've seen. I was on a mission though - in 1992 we stayed with Maurice and Marlene Cole. They had become very close friends of my parents when they lived in Deep River and particularly when I was born. A new mother often looks to her own mother for the initial help and advise bringing up the baby and given that all my grandparents were 1000s of miles away when I was born, Glynis had looked to Marlene (and to some extent to her 16 year old daughter, Margaret) to fulfil that role. They visited us in Scotland in 1984 but since our visit in 1992, contact had somehow been lost. We knew that they still lived at the same place so I went out to find them.

When I arrived at their house they were out so I went on my wanders round the town, along the river and got back to Maurice and Marlene's after it was dark. I went round the back of the house and just as I was about to cut my losses until the next day, they drove up. It was undoubtedly them as I recognised Maurice's beard through the car window. I decided to give them a few minutes to get in and settled before making my approach and when I did knock, I was met first by Bentley (their Corgi) and then by Maurice who looked a bit confused by my presence.

"Hi there Maurice, I'm a bit of a blast from your past", I said. Maurice still looked confused but invited me in in and as I entered I said, "yeah, I'm Paul Murray". Maurice nodded and smiled and Marlene appeared in the doorway with a look of surprise on her face. It was a really lovely moment when they invited me in and it wasn't long before the memories started to flow. I was reminded in particular how I was nicknamed "sprout" or "sprout-a-saurus" in 1980. The story was that while she was pregnant, Glynis had kicked a sprout she found on the ground under a tree outside their house on the way home. The snows came and buried it but in March when the snows melted , it re-appeared, at the same time that I emerged hence "sprout" (or "sproot" when pronounced by folk from the Ottawa Valley!). We made arrangements to have supper the next day when Charlotte would be there, along with Margaret and her family. By this point I was a bit late for dinner so I legged it back across town were Charlotte had emerged feeling a wee bit better. The evening was spent with Charlotte playing scrabble with Margaret (Margaret and Alistair are amazing Scrabble players) and me emailing my parents with the story of my Deep River adventures so far.

Cross-country skiing is a major part of life in Deep River and with the snows yet to arrive, the skiing trails were the perfect place to poke around. It was the end of autumn but the area was still lovely and it was one of those cold, crisp days with crunchy leaves and pine-cones underfoot. After all the months of summer weather we were in our element. Alistair toured us round giving us a commentary on the maze of ski trails we were following. The area is called "Silver Spoon" and I remember that my parents used to compete in the Silver Spoon race. We emerged from the woods to see the Deep River hospital at which point I said "oh, that's where I was born". I don't usually pose for photos but given that we were in Deep River, all bets were off. After lunch (and more of the fabby buns!) Charlotte and I headed into town. I'd been around enough the day before to sound relatively knowledgeable and we went up to the founding plaque (more photos were taken with you can all see on Flickr. You can also compare the 2010 plaque photograph with the 1992 version!).

While we were walking by the river there were two folk walking towards us. It was only when one of them said "oh, Paul" when I realised that one of them was Margaret, who by coincidence had just started relating my story to her friend. She also reminded me of the sprout story and also how Alan had once threatened to "throw me out with the sprout" one day when I wouldn't stop crying. She also told us how she'd babysat me as a baby one weekend that my parents went away for some time-out.

That evening we had dinner with Maurice, Marlene, Margaret, Margaret's husband Jay and their two kids Tailor and Charlee. Memories from 1980, 1984 and 1992 were dredged up and it was as if 30 years had never passed and I'd just always been there. We also met Maurice and Marlene's son Malcolm (notice the recurring "M" theme!) who I also remember from 1992. The meal was a full-on roast with home-made pickles and beets followed by home-made apple pie - ultimately North American. We left having exchanged emails and promises never to lose contact again. It was an amazing evening.

Breakfast the next morning was some waffles and home-made maple syrup. I'd never thought it possible but Alistair and Margaret just tap the Red Maples in the garden, boil it down and hey presto! It was really something and definitely and uniquely Canadian experience.

I'd realised on the way home the night before that we'd forgotten to take photos so I called Marlene the next day to make arrangements to drop by and take some. Before heading to theirs, we walked up to the Laurentian Dairy on the highway to repeat another incident from 1992. I remembered eating hot fudge sundae there and I'm very please to report that it was just as good 18 years later. It was a particularly impressive range of flavours.

By the time we met Marlene again, I'd hatched a plan. I'd been speaking to Alan and Glynis a lot on Skype relating the stories of all the people I'd met and made arrangements for them to leave the computer on that afternoon. I knew that Maurice and Marlene had hi-speed internet so I knew that it wouldn't be a big difficulty to hook up the wee laptop at their house. That done, my parents appeared on the wee screen and they were able to chat to their surrogate mum for the first time in 18 years - a really nice moment. Afterwards we headed to the church and met Maurice who was putting together the church's float for the Santa Claus parade. He used to teach "shop" (what we call "Craft and Design") and is a fantastic handyman. We took our photos after a tour of the church. Dinner was a home-made curry and a cherry pie with Margaret and Alistair followed by the inevitable teaching of the Inca Trail South African's card game (which you can fine in the books and pastimes section). That evening Chris MacCready dropped round. He'd stayed with us in Penicuik a couple of times, most notably when he was cycling round the world. He reminded me that I'd cycled with him up to a ruined castle near Penicuik (probably Uttershill Castle) and I reminded him that he'd given me a fly-view eyeglass, which I still have. He'd seemed so young then but he'd actually been 33 - three years older than I am now. If he identifies how he keeps himself looking quite so young he should bottle and sell it.

Unusually, amongst its many attractions Deep River has a Clock Museum. It's run by Allan Symons and was originally just a hobby for him. He has the most amazing collection and was an expert at explaining not only the history of the various clocks but also the mechanisms. They are incredibly intricate and it's amazing how they were engineered at a time that all parts were hand made. It was bizarre being there with all the clocks ticking away, and then noisily singing in midday. Interestingly for me he also had a 78 record player and a cylinder player which were all in full working order. I always love meeting people who are really into their subject - their enthusiasm and passion is always a joy.

In the afternoon we visited Margaret who introduced us to her menagerie of cats and birds and donated us new hats with ear covers to see us in the cold weather further west. Charlee took us to the "Whistle-Stop", the local second hand store where we stocked up on more winter clothes. She seemed to have been inspired to do some travelling of her own around Europe so I sincerely hope that happens and we can host her in Scotland soon.

We had the final of our meet and greets that night round the house of Bill Buyers and his wife Marilyn. Bill was Alan's boss at Chalk river and also the conductor of the Cantando Singers of which both Alan and Glynis were members. Bill had invited Malcolm and Pat Harvey, Peter Janzen and Jinty Smith (my "Scottish Aunty Jinty" who had also looked after me as a baby). They had managed to dig out a newspaper photo of a concert from 2nd Feb. 1980, about a month before I was born. Alan looked like Benny Andersson from ABBA and my mum was clearly very heavily pregnant so in a way, I was in the photo as well. As if that wasn't enough, they also had the programme (cover designed by Alan and very obviously his style) and a recording, including my parents' "solo" spots with them singing Ralph McTell's "Streets of London" and Gordon Lightfoot's "Pussywillow Cat-Tails". It was a voice from the past and was impressive how little their voices had changed. Even listening to the Cantandos singing together I could pick out their voices really clearly. It was a lovely evening, so many more memories were shared and I really began to get an impression of how much my parents had become part of the community in Deep River.

All too soon it had come time for us to leave. Our bus wasn't until the afternoon so we managed to get another wander around the ski trails - now dusted with snow. I felt like I was seeing Deep River through the seasons. I'd seen summer in 1992 and now I'd seen late-autumn and winter. Alistair and Margaret loaded us up with food for the bus and drove us up to the highway. Just as we were waiting, another car drove up and Maurice and Marlene emerged having decided to surprise us by seeing us off before our 30 h bus trip to Winnipeg.

The whole experience was amazing and we need to say a huge thanks to all the Deep River folk who hosted us, fed us but most of all shared their memories from my parents' time there. We even felt like we learnt a whole lot about them that we didn't already know! I hope sincerely that contact is not lost again and that we also see some of the Deep Riverites back in Scotland soon - they'd all be given a right royal welcome. So to paraphrase Maurice's grace before dinner, "We thank you for old friends, new friends and pray that friendships will endure and grow". Amen to that.