A True Orcadian: Keith Dennison
President of Prince George Celtic Club
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C - The Prince George Celtic Club has been in existence for the past 25 years. One of the strengths of the club is that there is a wonderful core of people who have been around for most of that time, providing a strong family feeling where everybody cares very much about each other.
 |
| KEITH DENNISON with his fiancée Vicky Chipman. |
Club President Keith Dennison recently spoke to The Celtic Connection about the club and about his Orkney Island background.
"I'm what you would call a true Orcadian" he said, "I was born on Stronsay, which is one of the North Isles in the group. When I first came to Prince George, I was introduced to some of the folks at the Prince George Celtic Club and started going to the events, and right away I felt that I was part of it.
"I was just embraced and invited into people's houses. It's just very much like it was in Scotland. There is that openness, especially with first generation club members from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
"They sent me in as a newcomer to become president and that just pulled me right in and made me take part in the club. I really appreciated that, it was very good of them."
The Prince George club embraces all of the Celtic cultures and there are two Celtic bands in town - Out of Alba and Clan Cara - and all band members are also members of the club. Keith said, "they are tremendously supportive and provide entertainment for free at our events. They are all excellent Celtic musicians and singers."
Over the centuries, the Hudson's Bay Company has recruited Orkney men to work as labourers and boat builders in Canada. That began in 1670 at the beginning of the Hudson's Bay Company when their ships were sailing out of England and up around the north of Scotland.
They would stop in Stromness, which is the second largest town in Orkney, to take on fresh water and supplies before heading out across the Atlantic to Hudson's Bay. One of those Orkney men was Doctor John Ray who was quite a famous Arctic explorer.
The Hudson's Bay Company has also played a part in the life of Keith Dennison and in his coming to Canada. He said, "I was working in a bar in Orkney in 1975 when I saw an ad for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) for young fellows to come and work in Northern Canada. So I came over to Canada in July 1975 to work for the HBC up in Cape Dorset on Baffin Island in the Eastern Arctic.
"I spent four years with the HBC in different communities, all the way up to Resolute Bay and Pond Inlet, which is way up in the north end of Baffin Island and further north. My job was buying fur and Inuit art.
"After four years I decided to return to Orkney and I bought a hotel with my family, but after a year my ex-wife wanted to leave Orkney, so we returned to Baffin Island again.
"This time I went to work for the government working in health as a human resources person in healthcare. I was the director of human resources for a couple of health boards.
"I was in the north for the creation of Nunavut in 1999 and became head of Human Resources for the Ministry of Health and Social Services in the new government. It was a fascinating and exciting time but also a difficult and stressful one. All in all, I spent 20 years in the Eastern Arctic.
 |
| STRONSAY is one of the North Isles in the group of Orkney Islands situated off the north-east tip of mainland Scotland. |
"Four years ago, I decided that I had enough of the frozen wastelands and I moved to Prince George and took a job as a recruiter with the Health Board. I have since switched to the British Columbia Government in Human Resources as a Human Resources Consultant in Prince George."
Speaking about his native land, Keith said, "the Orkney Islands are a mixture of Celtic and Norse traditions and culture. The Orkney and Shetland Islands were always lumped together, as part of the Norse Earldom.
"The King of Norway always had an Earl who was usually a nephew, son, or grandson, who would be appointed to run the Orkney and Shetland Islands. In 1468, the islands were handed over to Scotland, and are known as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
"Along with a lot of Norse words that have stayed in the language and traditions of Orkney, some of the Norse games have also stayed. One of those games is an annual game of Ba.
"This is played with a leather ball stuffed with sawdust in the streets of the town. One half of the town has to try and push the ball over one half of the wall, and the other half has to push it into the harbour. Tradition has it that when the Vikings played the game, it was with a human skull."
Growing up in Orkney there was always music in the Dennison home. Keith's dad and grandmother were fiddle players who played in the kitchen and in a local band. "My dad's first cousin is the well-known John Mason, founder and conductor of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra," said Keith, "he is a wonderful, wonderful person, and I grew up with him visiting our home.
"Our music has certainly evolved as Celtic music, but the Orkney fiddle music is somewhat distinct and separate. I have heard that there is a different holding of the bow and different bow strokes that make the Orkney fiddle players unique.
"Strangely enough, they have found that in Hudson's Bay some of the Cree people who play the fiddle, play old Orkney tunes or versions of Orkney tunes that have been kind of lost. Some of them have even gone back and played in Orkney. So, there is a real connection with the music of the First Nations folks in Canada.
 |
| THE BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall where Keith Dennison and Vicky Chipman plan to be married next October. |
"I should mention that the other strong connection between Canada and Orkey started when the Orkney men came to Canada to do their five years service with the HBC. On returning to Orkney, many of them left behind a native wife and children.
"But many also brought their Aboriginal First Nations or Inuit spouse and children back home to Orkney. One fellow in particular built a school to educate his own Inuit children. And so there are quite a lot of darker skinned people in Orkney with native Canadian heritage."
In August, Keith surprised his fiancée Vicky Chipman with a unique engagement ring while on holiday in Italy. It combines both the Canadian and Orkney cultures - a Canadian Arctic diamond set in a platinum Celtic band with Norse runes inset.
Keith and Vicky are planning to be married next October in Orkney at the beautiful and historic St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. This was founded in 1137 by the first Christian Vikings in honour of the peace-loving Earl Magnus.
For more information about The Prince George Celtic Club, call (250) 562-1696.
|
