I am Tom Stilwell. I’m a local resident. I was born in 1942 and lived very close to Swan Lake.

 

My favourite memories of Swan Lake is when I was a child. My father and mother used to take us kids for a walk. There were a couple of trails most of the area was farmland. My father would talk about all the birds that we would see. And then he would make whistles from willow branches in the spring. And we look for a crotches in trees so we can make slingshots.

 

And also I really remember skating in the in the winter time when the lake froze over and the fields on the South side of the lake would freeze over most winters because they would flood over and then they’d freeze. But Swan Lake itself didn't flood very often. It froze pretty much every year that is the fields did, but the Swan Lake itself didn't freeze very often. And then I do remember my father used to say, tell us kids, that we get pretty timid about going on the lake, and my mother didn't want us to do it. He said, “Oh, well. One inch of ice will hold a team horses. And he would go out skating on the lake. And it would be creaking. And he’d hold our hands. And you could actually see the lake, the ice, bowing on the lake. Then it would be cracking. And he’d say, “Don't worry. I’ve got ya.” Yeah, we got lucky. We never fell in. And didn't do that without him, because he's the one that encouraged us. He never grew up.

 

So it would be really cold. I mean they talk about climate change. It really has warmed up over the years.

 

I do remember all the ducks that used to be in the fields, because when the farmers would cut their hay or grass, whatever they’re cutting, then there would be a little bit of stubble. But you know, the seeds from a wheat or oats or whatever they were growing would be there. And just that so field over there would be full of ducks in the fall. And then in the spring, you’d see all the pheasants and the quail. And the reason we don't have any of the ground animals here anymore is because there's so many feral cats around. You know? So they get it. And then of course, whatever other animals get, they always used to fend for themselves. But Christmas Hill was absolutely loaded with pheasants. You couldn’t walk on there without seeing pheasants.

 

As we get a little older, the farmer, I think his name was Pendray, would let us try to help him lift those, when you would be bailing hay, he would let us try to try to help him loaded it onto his farm wagon. He had a farm hand. Right? And they’d run the cattle up that little hill and the cow tender, whatever you might want to call him, he used to ride the cow back and the lead Cow and they'd all follow. And we'd ask if “Can we do that?” and he’d say “No!”. But the whole area was all farmed. There wasn't any houses. Right? That's all resent.

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