The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday August 15, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B1 "bUGBTGROW EROf BBONG P U N T SINIK « H ' ·A nnuals · Perennials ·S hrubs ·W aterplants *T ro p ical' Plants * Floral Plants I* S o il 5558 Trafalgar Road (905) 878-0722 OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR OF THE OAKVILLE WATERFRONT FESTIVAL F o cu s 5 By Wilma Blokhuis BEAVER FOCUS EDITOR O akvC lL e/ fe ttW c ii/ W a Z e r fr r tn t Oakville Beaver Focus Editor: WILMA BLOKHUIS 845-3824 Ext: 250; Fax: 337-5567; Email: blokhuis@ haltonsearch.com W o rldtra v e lle rh o m e A nn Reynolds has had a life-long affliction with itchy feet but without the suffering. "I 've always had this great desire to travel." She also knew she could never afford the type of adventures she craved. Instead, she combined her travels with work. She's literally been around the world. Lately, her feet haven't been so itchy, having set tled in Oakville 17 years ago. "Except for a few family visits, and a few holidays, my traveling bug is over. I am well and truly satisfied here." She's become a Canadian citi zen. Now retired, Reynolds volun teers with the Oakville Historical Society, the Oakville Museum, the Burloak Theatre Group and the Oakville Opera Guild. She's trained to be a gallery interpreter at the Royal Ontario Museum, and gives talks to groups about her travels and her life. She's completed her examination in public speaking with the Royal Society of Arts during a brief stint back in England in 1994 and was granted a diploma with distinction. Reynolds was bom in Berkshire, England, and attended a convent school. At age 17, she took a secretarial course "just so I would have something to fall back on." However, she's never had to work as a secretary. She began her working life as a diamond sorter and cutter for De Beers. Then the travel bug bit. Her feet began to itch. She learned there was no chance of women going to Africa with De Beers, so she left and got a job as an assistant matron at a boys' prep school. There she read a newspaper ad that changed her life women aged 25 to 40 were needed to work at a men's social club in post-war Germany. Although she was not yet 25, Reynolds was accepted. "I joined the Women's Voluntary Service in 1958," she muses of the decision leading to a life of travel and work around the world. She was 22 at the time. "All my life, from the time I was a small child through my teens and into my early 20s, I had one great desire to travel," she says. Being post ed to Germany "gave me this wonderful feeling I was off." The Women's Voluntary Service came into being at the beginning of World War II in 1939. She went over seas, initially to Germany for nine months in the fall of 1959, and then on to Singapore and M alaysia for two years, working with a British regiment of the Sherwood Foresters. She was a welfare officer. "Young men, 18 to 20, had to give two years of conscripted time." Conscription began in 1946 and continued long after the war ended. In fact, it was still in force when Reynolds ven tured off overseas. "I tried to create a home environment for the young ser vicemen. "In most cases, they were away from home for the first time in very unusual circumstances." She organized outings, dances, and visits to places of local interest. "At one dance, I was one of only 10 women and 120 men. I never danced so much in my life." (S e e `B r u n e i. . . ' p a g e B3) Photo by Erin Riley; right photo courtesy of Ann Reynolds Ann Reynolds admires one of her favourite pieces from her travels, an authentic Chinese bronze oil lamp she purchased in a curio shop while sta tioned in Brunei during the 1960s. AT RIGHT: travelling by boat up the Limbang River in Brunei to deliver mail to soldiers stationed in villages. A s a u th o r iz e d b v P e rrv K r ie e e r & A s s o c ia te s In c ., R e c e iv e r a n d M a n a g e r. I n v e n to r y h a s b e e n a u g m e n te d to o f f e r b e tte r s e le c tio n . PTCY SALE INDIVIDUAL CLUBS *EXCLUDING 77 DRIVERS iT! / CLOTHING Oakville HOURS: Mon-Thu...10-6pm Fri...10-8pm Sat...9-6pm Sun...11-5pm C e n t u r y s e r v i c e s i n c . c o m A U C T IO N E E R S 'L IQ U ID A T O R S A P P R A IS E R S T e rm s : C ash. D e b it. V is a . M a s te rc a rd