Recordings Archive
Many audio and video recordings have been made over the years that document the lives and activities of Bonne Bay's residents. We have been gathering material that has been stored in the town offices at Woody Point and Trout River, and from other sources, which will be available on our website as it is converted to digital format.
Leafing through my copy of “Ballads and Sea-Songs of Newfoundland," I was delighted to find on page 371 a tune without words called “John Gillam’s Song”. Here is a new recording of this lovely little piece, together with a short introduction read by me, Tony Berger.
Here is a recording made in May 1986 of Ella Burton talking with Hiram Silk about growing up in Trout River (from Heritage NL “Intangible Cultural History Inventory – Oral Traditions and Expressions”)
Al Sheppard, was born 1914 in Woody Point, and had a great sense of humour! Hear him reminiscing about the days when he and his older brother Bill hauled the mail from Deer Lake to Bonne Bay by dog team or horses, or about when Bill worked for the department of fisheries here on the west coast of Nfld in the 1940’s.
Hayward Osmond of Silver Point tells Charlie Payne about seven sons seven years apart, rowing to Woody Point in dory, buying ice cream for 5 cents, sharing a moment with an old friend long gone. He shares memories of his brother, Everett Osmond's times and relationships forged during his time with the Telegraph Office on the coast of the Northern Peninsula.
Podcasts
Tea for Two in Gros Morne is a radio show and podcast from Voice of Bonne Bay Community Radio and Right There Productions and hosted by Olivia Ball of Woody Point. Listen in for conversations with seniors from small outport communities on the West coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Join us to hear first person accounts of sail powered fishing schooners, hand built long liners, how many songs you could get for a quarter on the jukebox in Uncle Bill Roberts store, and many more.
With over a century’s worth of family histories, personal anecdotes, and local lore, Tea for Two in Gros Morne is a close and comforting journey into the Newfoundland of the past.
This initiative is made possible by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.
Listen to the podcast on your favourite streaming service: ​https://linktr.ee/teafortwoVOBB
Down to Sally's Cove (https://downtosallyscove.buzzsprout.com/847510) is a collection of 46 stories about Newfoundland and Labrador by Ella Manuel (1911-1985) and read by Antony Berger, the editor of his mother’s writings about the history and rich culture of the places she lived, and the people she knew and loved.
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​In 1945, after years in England and the USA, Ella returned to Newfoundland to live, a single mother with two small boys. Using her maiden name, she began to write for newspapers and magazines and to read for radio stories about the places and people she met, recapturing some of the forgotten men and women of Newfoundland’s past. Over the next three decades, her voice became known across Canada through her many broadcasts on the CBC. When she died, she left behind a confused mass of undated manuscripts and notes, which have now been arranged and edited. Only a few recordings of her marvellous voice still exist: episode 19 is one of these. Notwithstanding the challenge of a male voice substituting for hers, the stories are all read here by Antony Berger.
The stories (recorded in 2020) are arranged in five groups. Season 1 is entitled Around Bonne Bay; Season 2 - Friends and Neighbours; Season 3 - Beyond the Bay; Season 4 - Medics, Missionaries and Military Men; Season 5 - Tough Times at Sea; Season 6 - Ghosts and Dirty Tricks.
A biography, together with a selection of her writings and broadcasts, including many of these podcast episodes, has been published under the title “No Place for a Woman. The Life and Newfoundland Stories of Ella Manuel” (Breakwater Books, St. John’s NL, 2020).​