Storytelling has been a way of preserving history and building connections for thousands of years, and it’s a tradition that one Penticton man has embraced for the last two decades.
Andre Sutherland-Begin fell in love with reciting poetry and stories for people in 1979, when he was training to be a conservation officer in Nanaimo, B.C.
“We had to do an English assignment and memorize a poem, I had two weeks… it was upwards of 1,000 words and I managed to do it,” said Sutherland-Begin.
The well-known poems, The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew by Robert Service, a Canadian poet who was called the “Bard of the Yukon” and died in 1958, are two of his favourites to tell.
Now Sutherland-Begin has been telling stories for the last 20 years at private events, museums and seniors homes.
“It just puts a smile on their (the audience) face,” said Sutherland-Begin.
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But he hasn’t since the pandemic began.
However, he still recites Service’s poems every day to stay sharp for when crowds start to gather once again.
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