Five Ontario District icons sat down in June to share stories of district members, events, quartets and choruses stretching all the way back through our 76-year history.
The interviews, which were conducted by Steve Armstrong, profiled Greg Backwell, George Shields, Ray Danley, Ron Whiteside, and Bobby Gibson. The district brought in BHS Video Production Manager Jeremy Gover from Nashville for the weekend to assist with capturing the audio and video footage for the series, which is part of the Ontario District’s 75th anniversary celebration activities.
“This is a project that excited me from the very beginning but when we actually sat down and conducted the video interviews, it far exceeded my expectations,” said Armstrong. “Each of these men is a hero to me and just having a chance to sit and chat with each of them for a couple of hours is a memory that I will cherish. And while I thought I was a keen student of ONT District history, I was constantly amazed to learn things and hear stories that I had never heard before. I can’t wait to share these videos with the members of the district and the rest of the Society.”
Each interview will be condensed into a 20-30 minute video with each interviewee sharing stories of their barbershop experience through the years. The videos are scheduled to be edited and released one at a time over the next three years to give each video a chance to be showcased individually, and to allow time to create the best possible end product.
“There are so many great options for potential interviewees, but these five men were seen as the must-haves for this round of interviews” shared Michael Black, who helped organize the project. “I hope that we can do another round of this style of interviews in four or five years and preserve even more of our rich history.”
The final videos will be released on the Ontario District YouTube channel.