Tag Archives: Ginny Ellingsen

Arts

Kim Paulley (part 2): George Sirk, Cortes Island and the rebirth of her career

Part 2 of a 2 part interview, click here for part 1. 

Her singing career appeared to be a thing of the past, when Kim Paulley came to Cortes Island in 1992. The release of ‘Straight From The Heart’ had been promising, but she turned to Classical music. While there had been ‘fantastic’ moments between 1985-90, there was also the toil of auditions (and sometimes not getting the part). Her career was on hold when a friend  recommended the retreats at Hollyhock, where George Sirk was a naturalist guide.

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Forests

Fuel mitigation around the Cortes Recycling Centre

 “When you talk about fuel, most people think about fuel for a vehicle or fuel for something like that, but fuel for a forest fire  is wood on the ground or standing wood? The idea  is to reduce the fuel load to reduce the severity of a fire. As it approaches that location, the fire will slow down and most likely drop to the ground because we’ve opened up the canopy. The danger trees have been removed and the debris on the ground’s been removed. So it would be a lot easier for firefighters to make a stand,” explained Tor Ellingsen of Reef Point Falling.

He was talking about the recently completed Cortes Island Recycling Centre Wildfire Mitigation Project.

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Forests

Bruce Ellingsen: 2022 recipient of the Jo Ann Green Award

Every year, the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) give the Jo Ann Green Award to a Cortes Islander who has made a significant contribution to the environmental wellbeing of the community. Bruce Ellingsen is this year’s recipient.

“Jo Ann Green was an exemplary environmentalist who came to Cortes in 1969, and she immediately became involved in social environmental activities on the island,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI. 

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History

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s secret visit to a small BC island

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

In August 1994, after opening the Commonwealth Games in Victoria BC, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were whisked away for few days rest. Most Canadians had no idea where the queen and prince had taken off to after the games.

However, the local citizenry of Cortes Island had a good idea. Rumors circulated that the royal couple would be spending time on adjacent Twin Islands, owned at that time by a German nephew of Prince Philip’s, Maximilian Margrave of Baden. The reports had a reliable source: Cortes Islander Ginny Ellingsen, originally from northern England, had been hired to wait on the famous guests. Once the Commonwealth Games were underway, a seaplane arrived at the dock on Twin Island bearing the royal couple.

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Arts

Falling Boundaries: A photographic art series by David Ellingsen

Originally published on March 8, 2022

David Ellingsen will be giving the residents of Cortes Island two presentations of his latest fine art photography series this year. 

“I’m going to be speaking at the Cortes Island Museum and Archives AGM on the 27th. It’s a fairly short talk, probably about 45 minutes, and then some time for Q and A. So it’s not  a huge amount of time. I’m going to be speaking a little bit about the ‘Falling Boundaries’ series. I also am planning on exhibiting this series, the actual prints, in the summer time,” he explained.

The exhibit will be at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery on the weekends of July 29 – 31 and August 5th-7th, 2022.

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