... he served in World-War-Two. ... And he like he grew- I don't know if he grew up here, I think he did. And like he raised his kids here and his grandkids here and-stuff, and he's the um president of the Canadian-Legion. ... He's been doing it for a long time, and he's a bagpiper and he's involved in the community like a lot. He's probably one of the most respected persons in our community.

Then they have a mid-way come into town. It used to come every year over at the legion grounds. And that's when the ferris wheels and all the rides and that-kind-of-thing. And they usually are stay up for close to a week I think when they come to town. So we haven't gone there either.

Speaker: The-Travellers would have a bar. ... At- at The-Legion, the Irish would have a bar, ah- ah- Interviewer: When you say a bar- Speaker: Li-- like, where you could go and drink, and the-- socialize with people, you-know?

... I'd get out and I'd coach some hockey. Ah, usually bantam age kids. So it'd be fourteen, fifteen, in there, and you'd get to know the parents. Ah, and you meet them at the legion after practice on Thursday night and- and they'd ask, "Well, how's Johnny doing in class?" And I'd say, "Well, he could probably do a little bit better than he is.

Speaker: And not um, living in New-Liskeard, you don't get the opportunity to meet parents out. And parents aren't out that much anymore either. Interviewer: Ah, okay. Speaker: Ah, the legion for instance here is dry. Um, and I'm not one to be headed for the local pubs anymore.

Interviewer: Yeah. 'Cause there's all m-- there's so many different people that make up a community. Speaker: Oh there are. Um I mean finding some of the older legion members would be- would be really good. ... They- some of the stories they have. Interviewer: Like the war, about- Speaker: Well no- not- not only that. It's the legion as a community 'cause they come- they're not all just like- for war and-that. They just- it's so cool like how ah my neighbour Joe collects the little war figurines and he puts them in fish-tanks without the water, uses them as display cases.

Speaker: I keep busy- I ah, I'm active in the legion a lot. Interviewer: Oh tell me about that. Speaker: And ah, I've been a member there for thirty-seven years, but just in the last few years, I've got ah- I took an executive position and I ah, look after the membership. And there's a lot to it.

Interviewer: What has been, ah, your biggest challenge working- challenge with working ah, in the- in the legion, um, to date? Speaker: Ah, trying to ah- Speaker 2: (whispers something) Speaker: Maintain the membership that we have. Because you- it's hard to get new members in because in this day-and-age, what does the legion or any service club have to offer a young people? Because of the lifestyle they're living now? All we have is- is ah, cards and ah- Speaker 2: Darts. Speaker: And darts and comradeship. But the younger crowd is not interested in that at all.

Speaker 2: Oh, like we've got the ah, Meals-on-Wheels this week. So we've got to deliver Meals-on-Wheels. Speaker: Yeah, the legion ah, does the Meals-on-Wheels once a month.

... so yeah and um what else did we do? There wasn't much to do in terms of like you-know- again like if you didn-- we always went, um the show. Like we always did the show once a week no matter what. But ah our big thing was watching legion games. ... It hasn't changed, sadly enough. But we would always go to McDonald's after the legion game to try to catch the hockey-players. ... Speaker: Because they always went to McDonald's. You-know the out of town players?

They call it The-White-Eagle-Bar. That's the original Polish-hall where dances and- and weddings and-everything went on, eh? There's some Polish people that come to the front table there and preserve that. This used to be the site of the old Kirk-- legion. Right here on the corner. Interviewer: And is there no legion here now? Speaker: Yes, it's down at the other- it's down at the far end. The-LaSalle-Theatre.

... you h-- you have two kinds of people running this town. You either have the friendly people or you have the complete dicks. ... And so, either you're known for drinking or just being rude and obnoxious. So no one from Legion. Interviewer: (Laughs) Speaker: Yeah. ... I don't care. As long as their not cocky and self-absorbed, okay I'll take you.

A-- a-- anyway ah- oh I got the band started when the- ah-ah- about drumheads- the legion drumheads service were going to be held here. Interviewer: And what was that, the drumheads? I'll just put this here. Speaker: Well, it's from the band.

... it so happened that day I had six pipe bands come in and they were in the field over there across from the legion. ... And that's where, getting ready for the parade.

So after, about- right after that s-- sun-- Sunday parade with all the bands, I have me- put an ad in the paper, "Are there any Highlanders in Haliburton?" And come- "If there are, come to the Legion." ... "November the thirtieth." ... Saint-Andrew's-Day (laughs), November the thirtieth.

Um, Eli-Shanford, a-- another legion member and myself, we were down and I got Septe-- September-eighty to nineteen-eighty-two to a district drumhead service in ha-- Havelock.

And that's w-- we were down there and we got talking to some guys from ah- I forget where I said it was but- what they- they were telling about their legion had got this ah- b-- b-- um building or thing up for seniors, they built for seniors.

Anyway, I- I- so I went back and ta-- talked to Synthia and to- oh, I was manager at the- at the r-- ah legion at that time and anyway, I said, "Oh we g-- we have a hundred thousand in the bank and they only want about seventy-thousand for that land. We can go and buy that land and maybe get started."

Speaker: Anyway, there's the- there's a legion. ... Interviewer: What happened here? Speaker: There's- there's- that's this legion here burning. Interviewer: What happened? Speaker: I don't know. There's the fire and there's what's left of it and- that was- that was a picture of the inside of the- of the original legion, that ah- Interviewer: I see. Speaker: Not really the olig-- original but- but anyway the- w-- we used the old c-- curling club here for the ah for the legion (laughs). ... While it was down before the new one got built.

Yeah, well all that's- that's ah, fire place thing there, all in there. Long one. Interviewer: That's a sugar ah sugar canteen. Speaker: I- (inc) all of the ah, the legion at that time. We're- we're building it longer, bigger and we pushed the back wall all out. And all those cement blocks that came down, I gathered and piled them in the back of my truck.