A story about me, Pauline Grondin.
I am “multiheretorial”, a professional storyteller, heritage performer, historical interpreter and musician and have been telling stories and making music all of my life to listeners from the age of 2 to 102.
I was given the honour of having my name included on the Ireland Canada Monument in Vancouver, B.C. “The monument honours Irish Canadians for their immense contribution to Canada.”…”each name has been chosen on that person’s contribution to their fellow Canadians, on their commitment to do something good to build a better community locally or globally within Canada.” My music and stories, especially those telling of Canadian history, have been recognized as my contribution.
I am also the recipient of the Halton Heritage Award, the Burlington Junction Appreciation Award and the Hamilton-Wentworth Heritage Award. My stories and music have been recorded for Route 1812, a driving route linking historical sites and cultural institutions in Southwestern Ontario, GTA and the Niagara regions, for the Southwestern Ontario Barn Quilt Trail, and History Television.
I have recorded four CD’s telling stories of Canadian pioneer women entitled Voices of the Past. I have also written a number of children’s history books and stories for the young at heart, and produced one CD of bedtime stories dedicated to my grandson.
Most of the stories I tell are self-penned. I have shared them in Canada and the British Isles
Folks have asked where I took my training and how I learned my art. I tell them it is a God given gift. I have always been a storyteller and taught myself to play instruments that strike my fancy, mostly heritage instruments.
As a little girl my sister and I shared a bedroom and I used to make up stories to tell her at bed time.
I was the neighbourhood child who made up the skits, built the props and conducted the other children in the plays for their parents.
When I was in university, I started a conversation with a Scouter putting on a display to promote his group. I was a sailor and there was a sailboat in the display which attracted me.
The next thing I knew I was a cub master and lead various packs in a number of cities in two provinces for the next 23 years. I was also a service team representative and trainer.
Part of the scouting programme is storytelling and music and the cubs I worked with loved that part of the programme. We visited other groups together and shared stories with them. I taught training sessions for many scouting and guiding groups.
Everyone once in a while I meet up with one of my cubs, now a grown man, they tell me of the fond memories they have of their time in cubs, especially the stories. I used to play my guitar and sing outside of their tents at camp after they had gone to bed.
The rest, as they say, is history.
A school teacher discovered my talents. I have told stories in numerous schools across Ontario as well as heritage sites, churches, festivals, seniors’ homes, conferences and many more venues. I was at one time the resident storyteller at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton Ontario.
I have been a volunteer at Westfield Heritage Village in Rockton for 22 years. I am usually in the Westbrook House circa 1807 where I hold my audience captive with stories of the family and the era. Goodness, the questions people ask but I am happy to answer them.
A few years ago, our programmer at Westfield asked me to dress as a witch to promote our Hallowe’en programme. Many photos later, promotional materials were produced and the fun began.
To date I have received two awards at Westfield Heritage Village. One for 1,000 hours of volunteer work and the second for 3,186 hours.
I also portray Queen Victoria on her special day for a number of venues including Westfield.
There are many different topics in my repertoire, the most popular being my presentations on Canadian history, including first person presentations dressed in period clothing.Although I do have my Irish citizenship, I am a proud 10th generation Canadian.
I often come up with an idea for a presentation myself.
However, many have been requested by one group or another, for a special occasion or for a special time in Canadian history. It seems to go in cycles. I have presented “Piecing Together Canada’s History Through Quilts” to 40 quilt guilds in Ontario. My presentation on Victorian Tea Traditions and Legends continues to be popular.
A retired teacher’s group in St. Catharines asked me to write a presentation for them for Canada’s 150th. “If Teapots Could Talk” is a brief journey through time with the supposed stories of teapots that might have belonged to famous and not so famous ladies while Canada’s history was unfolding.
The first story starts in 1867 and Canada’s history unfolds with each teapot story that follows. It is still a very popular presentation. At the suggestion of a friend, I continued the teapot theme with Royal Scandals as Told by their Supposed Pots starting with, who else but King Henry V111. The church ladies’ groups request that one!
I estimate it takes approximately 1,000 hours of research and writing to put one presentation together. My friend is a heritage seamstress and has sewn numerous period outfits for me to wear when I am telling my stories.
As the storyteller for the Hamilton Métis Women’s Circle, my presentation on the Aboriginal Farm Workers in the Village of Aldershot took me two years of research and interviews with elders and seniors. None of the information I presented has been written down or published in books. The story unfolds with my personal information and the wonderful stories from those people I interviewed. A good friend of mine hosted four tea parties and invited ladies and gentlemen in their seventies, eighties and nineties who remembered the Aboriginal Farm workers in the field, on the tractors and at the market. The story is told in first person in the tear 1947.
For 25 years I was an 1812 reenactor and traveled around Ontario with other reenactors telling stories, playing music and singing. The Bi-Centennial of the War of 1812 was a busy time for me with requests to appear at reenactments and festivals around the province. Laura Secord of course is the most popular of my first-person presentations requested for the 1812 era. Children often ask me how old I am if I was born in 1775.
I became a professional storyteller in 1985 and the stories continue. There are notebooks in every room of my house and in my van so I can jot down ideas. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with an idea dancing in my head and rush to the computer to jot down notes for my next project.
Voices of the Past will take you to the long ago, far away and bring you back again.
Pauline Grondin
Award Winning Storyteller
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Great Story Pauline.
Raymond Pierce Toronto