Welcome to the GNS web page! It is under construction. Please email corrections, suggestions, and new material (photos as jpeg attachments; under 200K, please; please date event and identify people if you can) to Tim. (For the moment, though, aesthetics take second place to content.)
Bienvenu au site SNG! Il est en construction. SVP envoyer par courriel des corrections, suggestions et du nouveau matériel (les photos comme attachements jpeg, toujours moins de 200KO svp, et svp identifier le gens et les dates d'événements si vous le pouvez) au Tim. (Pour l'instant, cependant, l'esthétique prend la deuxième place au contenu.)

History / L'histoire


GNS: the first thirty years

John Boynton

[Written for the Fall 2006 newsletter]

The Georgeville Nature Society/Les Amis de la Nature Georgeville was founded in the fall of 1976 by Katherine Mackenzie, naturalist, artist and author. David Cox was the first president. Many of the members were keen cross-country skiers, and soon set up a committee to take charge of the trail network established by Barbara and Errol Clift, Crop Kohl and Chris Manning. These four with Dick Hornby and Tony Straessle made up the first Ski Committee. The Society collected an extra fee from "Ski Members" to cover incidental costs of trail maintenance.

The Ski committee organized a family ski day and dinner in January of 1978. The first of the children's ski days during March breaks was held in 1978 and continued until 1993. The enthusiastic assistance of many ski members maintained and expanded the trail network. (There must still be one of Errol Clift's ties, which were used as trail markers, somewhere in the woods. David Stanger, ed.)

The Society built a boardwalk across the beaver pond in Inverugie Sanctuary and put up nesting boxes for wood ducks and bluebirds, conducted nature walks every summer as far afield as Phillipsburg, often in conjunction with the St. Francis Valley Naturalists, purchased subscriptions to nature magazines for the Princess Elizabeth School in Magog and twice a year published a newsletter, "The Waterthrush", which included articles and drawings by young members. Katherine, ably assisted by Peter Landry, led the Society's participation in the Audubon Christmas bird Count.

Unhappily, interest in the Society's activities (apart from skiing) was waning and in the following year it decided to "go dormant" but to maintain its Ski Committee which was authorized to collect the fees of ski members, to use the modified logo and to name representatives of GNS to the annual meeting of L'Ile du marais.

The Ski committee added a summer program of field trips to its winter activities, reporting twice a year to all ski members in a "Report of the Ski Committee with Nature Notes from Georgeville".

In the spring of 1994 the Ski Committee decided that the time had come to revive the Georgeville Nature Society from its dormancy, but to change the name to Georgeville Nature Ski, thus keeping the familiar initials and emphasizing the importance of cross-country skiing in our program.


GNS: les trente premières années

John Boynton

[Ecrit pour le bulletin de l'automne 2006; trad. Nicole Menard]

"Georgeville Nature Societe" ( Les Amis de la nature Georgeville) a été créée à l'automne 1976 par Katherine Mackenzie, naturaliste, artiste et auteure. David Cox en fut le premier président. Plusieurs membres étaient d'enthousiastes skieurs de randonnée qui bientôt mirent en place un comité pour soutenir le réseau de sentiers établi par Barbara et Errol Clift, Crop Kohl et Chris Manning. Ces derniers, avec Dick Hornby et Tony Straessle, ont constitué le premier Comité de ski. La Société demanda aux membres une contribution supplémentaire afin de défrayer les coûts relatifs à l'entretien des sentiers.

Le Comité de ski organisa une journée de ski et un dîner familial en janvier 1978. La première journée de ski pour les enfants eut lieu en mars 1978, pendant la relâche scolaire et cette tradition s'est poursuivie jusqu'en 1993. L'assistance enthousiaste des nombreux membres skieurs se perpétua et le réseau des sentiers pu, par conséquent, être élargi. (Quelque part dans les bois, on peut probablement encore admirer l'une des cravates d'Errol Clift, qui ont servi de balises sur les sentiers. David Stanger, Ed.)

La Société érigea un passage en bois à travers l'étang de castors dans le Sanctuaire Inverugie et mit en place des nichoirs pour les canards de bois et les merles bleus. Elle a également dirigé les randonnées dans la nature chaque été, aussi loin que Phillipsburg, souvent en collaboration avec la "St. Francis Valley Naturalists". Elle a souscrit à des journaux portant sur la nature pour l'école Princess Elizabeth de Magog et a publié, deux fois par année, un bulletin d'information «The Waterthrush » (Le Paruline) contenant des dessins et des articles écrits par les jeunes membres. Katherine, secondée par Peter Landry, nous a représentés auprès de la Société Audubon pour le recensement des oiseaux à la fin décembre.

Malheureusement, l'intérêt pour les activités de la Société (sauf pour le ski) déclina et, l'année suivante, on décréta une période de dormance, tout en maintenant le Comité de ski qui fut autorisé à percevoir les honoraires des membres, à utiliser le logo modifié et à nommer des représentants du GNS à la réunion annuelle de l'Ile du Marais.

Le Comité de ski a rajouté les randonnées estivales à ses activités d'hiver, tout en gardant contact, deux fois par année, avec tous ses membres skieurs par le biais du «Report of the Ski Committee with Nature Notes from Georgeville ».

Au printemps 1994, le Comité de ski décida que le temps était venu de sortir de sa période de dormance "Les Amis de la nature Georgeville", mais de changer le nom à "Georgeville Nature Ski", gardant ainsi les lettres "GNS" qui étaient connues; l'emphase fut alors mise sur l'importance du ski de fond dans notre programme.


XC: In the beginning

by Anon* and John Boynton

[Published in Georgeville News / Les nouvelles de Georgeville (Vol.3 No.1 January/February 1998)]

This is the story of the origins of our cross-country ski trail network, as told by some of the pioneers.

Errol and Barbara Clift were the originals. Sallying forth from their home on Merrill Road, these avid skiers developed a veritable spider's web of trails in the early 70's. Crop Kohl* then developed the loop from the village to Magoon's Point and back, with a cross-over to the Clift trails for those wanting to go only half the distance. This became known as `the pretzel'.

Crop remembers in particular the severe winter of 1975, when 18 inches of snow made clearing the trails brutally hard; this punishing work he shared generously with Kathy Adams and Andrée Jolicoeur. Chris Manning, a professional cross-country skier and then owner of the Inn in Georgeville, joined forces with Crop in 1976 to complete the pretzel. Some recall the particular challenge of navigating the tracks laid by the narrow-hipped Chris.

The very idea of a ski trail network met with resistance from some property owners who thought Crop and Chris stood to profit from them. And, then as now, how expain to startled homeowners the faces in their windows---skiers who miss the trail markers and seek redirection? Many a trail detour has evolved from these encounters!

In 1977, the newly-formed Georgeville Nature Society assumed responsibility for supervision and maintenance of the trails. The first Ski Committee consisted of Tony Straessle, chair, Chris Manning, Barbara and Errol Clift, Crop Kohl and Dick Hornby. The committee established rules and fees for trail use and a waiver to absolve the Society and property owners from liability for accidents. The first annual `Barbara Clift Ski Day' was held in January 1978 and childrens ski days were held in March every year until 1993.

The number of skiers on Ski day has varied from zero---there was no January snow in 1980---to over 100. The ski-day dinners have been sold out every year. From 1981, the late beloved Barbara Clift produced the gourmet meal and centerpieces with the help of other committee members. And, fitting tribute, the annual Ski Bird award is a refurbished Susie Clift downhill race trophy.

The ski trail network has grown. The orginal `pretzel', renamed the Yellow Trail, still runs from McGowan Road to Magoon's Point, but follows a different route in places where the landowners withdrew permission to cross their property. There are now four cross-over trails, each marked with red ribbons. The Triangle, one of the Clifts' trails, had to be rerouted when the ploughing and sanding of one end of Noel Road began. The old Purple Trail, south of the village, now the Blue South Trail, hashad to be altered many times. The only trail still following its original route, first marked by Kim Stein and John Boynton 15 years ago, is the very popular Blue North Trail.

Over the years, the composition of the Ski Committee has changed. Tony was replaced as chair by Chris Manning, he by Barbara Clift and she by John Boynton. Other members have been Danny Bernais, Kim Stein, Pierre Kohl, Len Hart, Ted Dawson, Joan and Herb Mitchell and Marie-Chantal Vincent.

In 1984 the Georgeville Nature Society became dormant, but the Ski Committee carried on, adding a series of summer nature walks. In 1994, the organization renamed itself Georgeville Nature Ski and, with the consent of Katherine Mackenzie, adopted the logo of the Georgeville Nature Society. The present GNS executive is John Boynton, chair, Betty and David Stanger, Jean-Paul Clermont, Cecil Jeffrey, Mary and John Cowans, Joan and Peter Hadrill, Murray Robinson, Fran Williams and Peter Kohl.


Members of the Executive / Membres du comité executif

(The Ski Committee, 1985--94, and Georgeville Nature Ski, subsequently, did not publish committee members in its reports but I think the following two lists cover everybody historically on the executive.)

76777879808182838485868788899091929394959697..
77787980818283848586878889909192939495969798..
Kathy Adams X
Adelaide Atkin XXXXXX
Maurice Berry XXXXXX
John Boynton XX
Barbara Clift XXX
David CoxXXXXX
Marcus Cox XX
Betty Hart XXX
Len Hart X
Dick Hornby
Lesley Hyndman X
Meredith KohlXXXXXXXX
Peter Landry XXXXXX
Kathleen Leslie X
Katherine MackenzieXXXXXXXX
Chris Manning X
Wayne McTavishXXXXXXXX
Adelaide Prangley X
Dan Rhodes XXXXX
Jesse RobertsonXXXXXXX
David Stanger X
Tony Straessle XX
..98990001020304050607080910111213141516
..99000102030405060708091011121314151617
Nadine & Erik Bjornestad X
John BoyntonXXXXXXXXXX
Jean-Paul ClermontXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jill & Kip Cobbett XXX
Mary & John CowansX XXXXX
Loy & Peter Denis XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bill Eakin XXXXXXXXX
Joan & Peter HadrillXXXXXXX
John Hoblyn (ex of.)XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Cecil Jeffrey
Heather & Tom Kovacs XXXXX
Diane & Peter KohlXXXXXXXX
Nicole & Christian Laporte X
Nicole & Jean-Pierre Lefebvre XXXXXX
Monique & Guy LordX
Francine & Ed Markwell XXXXXXXXXXXX
Mary Ann & Tim MerrettXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Penny & Wayne McTavish XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Pat & Richard Morris XXXXX
Murray RobinsonX
Hugh Scott XXXXXXXXX
Sally Scott XXXX
Betty & David StangerXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rossene & Michael Temple X
Barb Wolf XXXX
Fran WilliamsXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX