Hi Folks,
Further to my message of 01 Mar 07 - 12:32 PM, no, I am not related to the Mrs. Ballantyne of the song, Vera didn't know my arm of the family when she wrote it, although I have come across many "Mrs. Ballantynes" in my time!
I have not been following this thread on a consistent basis.
You should all know that Vera is in very caring hands and is not behind locked doors of any sort. She is in the Extended Care wing of Ladysmith General Hospital and is visited by her family, daily. I don't know what all that was about Chemainus - she isn't there although she may have been there very briefly a couple of years ago.
The reason the British Columbia Folklore Society is publishing only 100 copies of "The Recorded Songs of Vera Johnson" is because the Society is not supported except by its very limited membership and consequently has very little money,
Anyone can join the Society (membership is $25) and members receive the Society's publications free (including this two-CD book).
Messages to Vera can be sent to her care of her daughter Moira at: moirafoster@shaw.ca and if you want to contact me I am at info@folklore.bc.ca
The Society is at:
British Columbia Folklore Society,
7345 Seabrook Road,
Central Saanich, B.C.,
V8M 1M9
I guess, if enough people were interested, we could run a few more copies of this issue but, even with the number of people writing to this thread, it doesn't appear that there are more people than we will have spare copies to accommodate.
I hope this answers a few questions and allays a few myths (in the popular sense of the word).
Mike