Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee council held a special meeting with their Selby UK counterparts via Zoom Friday morning from across the pond.
At least it was Friday morning in Canada, closer to suppertime in the UK.
Joining the chat were Selby UK mayor Michael Dyson, councillor Melanie Davis, students from both Selbys and podcasters John Hastings and Tim FitzHigham.
The meeting was the latest developing in what appears to be the start of a twinning between the town communities. The genesis of the friendship came about by the work of Hastings and FitzHigham who began working on a podcast exploring the similarities between the town Selbys after hearing of a comical mix-up. Someone in Selby UK had intended to buy tickets to see a show in their hometown. Instead they ended up purchasing tickets for a show at the Lennox Community Theatre, some 3,332 miles away.
“We thought this mix up was just absolutely brilliant,” said FitzHigham, offering a brief update on the project that he first presented to Greater Napanee council in April of this year. “Does any know how they’re linked? Does anyone know if they’re linked? Does anyone know why it’s called Selby in Canada? The answer to all these questions was no. So John and I thought we’d start finding out and we’d see if we could start talking to people and maybe people in Selby Canada could start talking to people in Selby UK and this whole project just sort of snowballed from there.”
Their research led them to the great-great-great granddaughter of the man who had left Selby UK and was given a small holding of land in now present day Selby, Greater Napanee.
“That man still has cousins in Selby, UK,” said FitzHigham. “So there’s a family in Selby, UK that’s related to the woman that we spoke to in Selby, Canada. The diaries that this man wrote this lady in Canada still has and I think some of the schools in Canada have probably heard those stories. I think they’re read to the schools in Canada about the incredible things that this family went through to try and found Selby in Canada. There were bears and there were wolves….and yet he stuck at it with his family, as you’d expect from someone from Yorkshire. He dug in and got on with it and managed to make something happen out there for his family.”
Episodes of their podcast, Tale of Two Selbys, is expected to be released in the next couple of weeks.
“The only disappointment I had in this project was I made the wild claim that Vikings were involved in the founding of the Canadian Selby,” joked Hastings. “While it turned out the original founder of the town did have some Scandinavian heritage, he wasn’t a full Viking which I have to say was a bit of a let down because I was really hoping that was going to be the big reveal for a nice dramatic ending.”
Another coincidental link between the two communities was found in the stars. More specifically, Canada’s Selby Public School’s sports teams are nicknamed the Stars. In the UK there is a church known as Selby Abbey, which features a famous window with three stars and stripes painted on it. Known as the Washington Window, the 15th century painted window represents the arms of the Washington family and would go on to be a major inspiration behind President George Washington’s design of the stars and stripes found on the United States of America flag.
Known as the Washington Window, this window inside Selby Abbey church in Yorkshire, which dates back to the 15th century, was the inspiration behind the U.S. flag. Through pure coincidence, Selby Public School’s team name is Stars. That is just one of the many pure coincidental links between the two communities. Photo from https://www.selbyabbey.org.uk/.
In another fluke, the school in Selby UK’s logo includes two stars. Students from the Canadian side had a few questions for their counterparts. Among those were if soccer is known as football over there, what would they call football. The answer was simple: Canadian football. UK council was also asked whether farms surrounded their town, as is the case over here. Davis answered though they have some sheep and pig farms, their area would be more urban.
In an effort to further strengthen the relationship, Greater Napanee council put forward a motion to have town staff develop a report on how closer links can be forged between the two towns and explore the possibility of twinning the two communities. The report is expected to come back to council in February.
“This is what teaches what other parts of the world are doing,” said Greater Napanee mayor Marg Isbester. “Whether it’s football or football, we’re all the same sort of people.”
Davis agreed.
“We’re got twined with Carentan (France) and Filderstadt (Germany) on our town signs, we’ll be able to put another one on their and that’ll confused people,” said Davis. “Twined with Selby.”
At the close of the meeting deputy mayor Max Kaiser had a surprise for Isbester. In honour of her upcoming 50th wedding anniversary, her husband Mac was called into the chambers and a special presentation was made to celebrate the occasion. Both husband and wife were caught off guard by the presentation.
Kaiser noted the presentation was made Friday because council will once again meeting virtually going forward in response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the KFLA region. Council had been meeting in person at Selby Community Hall. The meeting will continue to be broadcast via the town’s YouTube channel. Council’s final meeting of 2021 will take place on Tuesday.