And so it was, the first time in recent family memory, we met at St. George's church - Mitchell Hall and had a reunion. There was an excitement in the air and I for one was ready for a great weekend of meeting many family members. As you would expect, there are always cancellations, but also the unexpected arrivals which are a highlight! For all of you that wanted to be there but could not make it, you where dearly missed and we ALL look forward to making your acquaintance in the future. We had representatives from approximately 20 branches of the family on Saturday totaling about 30. The family roll call, history, pictures and conversation put everything into perspective and that was exactly what we were there for on the first day.

Sunday's picnic was no exception and, in spite of rain, we had a turn-out of about 30 plus. I am sure this was one of our ancestor's traditional methods of meeting together and we certainly carried on the tradition! The stories past down to me by my mother Dorothy Olive Hewer about the Speed River and Riverside Park all came to life. The picnic turned out to be the day of the Thatcher family, represented by a dozen or more from this branch, many who hadn't seen each other in ten years. All in all a great two days of Hewer family history lived out in "Guelph the Royal City."

I would like to take this time to thank all of you who attended and a special thanks to Peter Hewer, Mary Harris and Richard Hewer for all their help in making the HFR2003 successful. It is people like all of you that make a difference and make it fun to call you family.

Don't forget to check out the website www.hewer.info/reunion2003 and sent your pictures and comments for all to see and enjoy. Richard Hewer [email protected], our webmaster, will be glad to receive and post them for us on the website.

Well, until next time, See you in Guelph !!! Perry

Click here for pictures.