My brother Brian, had been in the army for two year during the Mau-Mau, and after he was demobbed, he worked for Caltex the oil company. When we were in England, he thought that it might be his time to make a move and announced that he had had enough of Kenya and was going to Canada, where it was a bit more civilised. Almost straight away, my father said he would go with him, knowing that he still had a job available for him with the PWD in Kenya if he wanted to go back after the six months. So they went on a rough old boat to Canada and they were only allowed £100 each to take out of the country. They thought they would go to Vancouver.
Landing in Canada, they took the train and when it went thought Winnipeg station they saw a lad called Denis Hunter (of Hunter’s Lodge), who had been with Brian in the Kenya Regiment. He recognised Brian and they got talking on the platform. Brian said that they were heading for Vancouver and Denis said that if they don’t find work in Vancouver then to come back to Winnipeg as he could find work for them there.
Arriving at Vancouver, my father was offered a six-month contract, but Brian wasn’t so fortunate. In the end Brian suggested he went back to Winnipeg and got a job. After the six months, my father decided to join Brian as they had decided to go to Canada together, although his contract would have been renewed. They worked together in Winnipeg for a while. During this time, my father had worked out that Falcon’s Lake a small town 90 miles away was being developed as a location for summer vacations for people from Winnipeg, and he saw an opportunity there, so he moved there and began building cottages by the lake. By now my mother had moved to Canada and between them they developed a business running a local post office in Falcon’s Lake.