2021 Lectures

The theme for the lectures of the Beaurepaire-Beaconsfield Historical Society

starting in February 2021 "Transportation"

will take you to a journey on land, on water and even into space

Everyone welcome. 

Free for members; $2 for non-members
Become a member for $5 per year 

Information: Contact us

Until further notice, the lectures will be in virtual mode and available free for everyone.

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Lecture by David Shuman - Transportation

History of Mars Missions

Speaker: David Shuman
When: Thursday, February 18, 2021, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: In virtual mode

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.

Looking at the past present and future exploration missions to our intriguing neighbour, Mars. Featuring the latest upcoming Mars 2020 Perserverence Rover & Ingenuity Drone Mission from NASA. David Shuman will present the history of the Mars Exploration Missions all the way up to the landing of Perseverance Rover on Feb 18th, 2021, just a few hours before this lecture.

For this lecture you must register in advance using the following link:

(the link will be supplied here one week before the lecture)

Select your Zoom language preference at the bottom right corner of the page.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting on February 18. Keep this new link as you will use it to connect on the day of the virtual lecture. You could join around 7:15 p.m. giving you enough time to set in. The lecture will start at 7:30 p.m

David Shuman is Director of Research & Development and Board member of the Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). Long time space enthusiast, amateur astronomer, David Shuman has a passion for past present and future exploration missions to the red planet Mars and co-created a full scale model for the CSA of the Phoenix Lander, attended numerous Shuttle and rocket launches as well as numerous public talks on the subject of Mars in Canada and the US.

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Lecture by Alexander Reford - Transportation

Last of the Clippers
The Thermopylae’s Canadian Odyssey

Speaker: Alexandre Reford, historien

When: Thursday, April 15, 2021, 19:30 to 21:00

Where: In virtual mode

For this lecture you must register in advance using the following link:

(the link will be supplied here one week before the lecture)

Select your Zoom language preference at the bottom right corner of the page.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting on April 15. Keep this new link as you will use it to connect on the day of the virtual lecture. You could join around 7:15 p.m. giving you enough time to set in. The lecture will start at 7:30 p.m

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.

Scouring for a ship that could get a ready supply of rice to their recently opened mills in Victoria, British Columbia, Robert Reford tasked his partner John Dillon to find the right vessel. Dillon was told about the Thermopylae. “Dillon is having much trouble to get tonnage for Victoria,” Reford wrote his son, “and has as a dernier resort about made up his mind to purchase a sailing ship. He cabled me the names of several he was offered and we finally decided to bid on one called the Thermopylae…she is in fact one of the famous Aberdeen clipper tea ships…”
So began Robert Reford’s odyssey as the owner of the one of the fastest and most famous sailing ships ever built – the Thermopylae. Rival of the Cutty Sark, she was beautiful, sleek and fast, built to get the finest teas from China to the teacups of Britain’s aristocracy. Decades after her launch, Robert Reford bought her to transport rice to his new rice mill in Victoria. It was a short-lived and most disastrous investment. It brought Reford and his Montreal shipping agency and rice milling firm fame if not fortune. Historian Alexander Reford will tell the story of this fascinating episode in maritime history of the last of the clipper ships.

Alexander Reford is the director of Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens. Educated at the University of Toronto and Oxford University he is the author of several books on Quebec history and gardens. He is a frequent contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and is the author of the biographies of Lord Mount Stephen and Lord Strathcona and his great great grandfathers, Robert Meighen and Robert Reford.

Des jardins oubliés 1860-1960,

Guidebook to the Reford Gardens,

Au rythme du train 1859-1970,

Elsie’s Paradise – Reford Gardens,

Treasures of Reford Gardens - Elsie Reford’s Floral Legacy,

The Metis Lighthouse.

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