HNC Volunteers of the Year 2003: Barry Cherriere & Bob Elstone

Brian Wylie, HNC president, presents trophy to Barry Cherriere, recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award for 2003

Barry Cherriere

An incredibly talented artist and photographer, Barry Cherriere has been an HNC member since the mid-1970's. An avid bird watcher from the early age of 10, Barry grew up in east Hamilton where he says "Red Hill Valley was his playground." He began photographing birds in 1975 and cannot recall if he found out about the HNC through his membership in the Hamilton Camera Club, or from fellow birders. In 1991 he began drawing the birds he was seeing through his binoculars and camera.

Barry is an active member of our Club's Bird Study Group (BSG). He regularly volunteers his time to put together selections of his slides to complement bird identification talks, and at many meetings he also showcases his beautiful slides of rare birds seen in and around Hamilton. He recently produced a line of notecards with reproductions of his drawings and these are currently used as "Thank You" gifts for BSG speakers. HNC website designer Betty Blashill says that Barry has been a major contributor of stunning nature photos for both the Club display and Club website!

In addition, Barry has volunteered the use of his photographs and artwork for a number of HNC projects including: Wood Duck articles, the Head-of-the-Lake Pocket Nature Guide, and the Club's 75th anniversary sweatshirt, which features a reproduction of one of Barry's Osprey paintings. Barry's photographs can be found throughout the HNC website and on the Nature in Your Neighbourhood Habitats of Hamilton and Halton poster published this fall. A HNC hike leader, Barry is also a regular contributor to the Noteworthy Bird Records currently maintained for the Club by Rob Dobos.

In addition to his activities with the HNC, Barry and his wife Linda are both avid hawk counters for the watches performed during spring and fall migration at Beamer Conservation Area and Hawk Cliff respectively.

Brian Wylie, HNC president, presents trophy to Bob Elstone, recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award for 2003

Bob Elstone

Bob Elstone is a long-time member whose volunteer involvement with the HNC has been far-reaching. As a child Bob attended Strathcona School and it was through his teachers that he was exposed to the Hamilton Bird Protection Society (HBPS), the predecessor to the present day Hamilton Naturalists' Club. At the age of 12 Bob won a bird box construction contest sponsored by the HBPS. In the late 1930s he participated in The Trail Blazers, a group affiliated with the HBPS but led by the teenage boys themselves, where he became the trail leader for the north shore of Cootes Paradise (George North was the leader for the south shore). It is Bob's strongly held belief that we owe much to the teaching profession for their continued interest in the appreciation and preservation of our natural history.

After returning from World War II, Bob and other former Trail Blazers helped to revive the HBPS. Bob realized that having a newsletter was a key element to rebuilding an organization whose membership had dwindled to between 15-20 members during the war. In 1947 Bob founded The Wood Duck as the official newsletter of the Hamilton Nature Club and helped to re-establish the junior naturalist's club who proceeded to hold meetings every Saturday at the Y.M.C.A. The name for the newsletter came from a Wood Duck nest box building project that the Club was involved with at Cootes Paradise. Bob's vision was that the Wood Duck could be the instrument to allow the Club to become a powerful advocate for conservation and a positive influence on young people.

In addition to being Wood Duck editor, Bob was also Club President for two terms of two years each and it was during one of these terms that the Club's name was changed again; this time to the one we are all now familiar with — Hamilton Naturalists' Club. During his time as President, Bob challenged members to take a more active role in the conservation of natural lands. In September 1958 he flagged the urgent need for the protection of the rapidly disappearing natural areas around Hamilton. He challenged Club members to take the matter into their own hands and in doing so, the HNC in 1961 became the first nature organization in Ontario to purchase natural lands as nature sanctuaries through the acquisition of Spooky Hollow. During his time on the Board, Bob also got the Club involved in many local conservation activities including tree plantings and litter clean-up of local natural areas and trails. Bob's current involvement with the Club includes providing a venue for HNC led hikes on his Escarpment property and pursuing his desire to protect the woodlands of North Aldershot.

Bob's long history of volunteering with the HNC has not lessened his ability to be involved with other local organizations. He has been a volunteer swim teacher at the Y.M.C.A. for 64 years and has maintained a perfect weekly attendance record at the Rotary Club since he joined in 1968!