Old Sydney Society

10/24/2026

Good morning! Because the cruise ships have cancelled their stops in Sydney today, we are going to open the Sydney Museum at 11 for the downtown Halloween event. Cossit House will be closed and St. Pat's is closed for a private event.

Looking forward to seeing all the great costumes downtown today!

10/24/2026

10/23/2026

Friday evening will mark the world premiere of a set of pieces arranged by Glace Bay’s own Stuart Calvert.

They are:

Sea Longing (as sung to Marjorie Kennedy-Fraser by Anne Monk, of the Isle of Benbecula)

Ho ro mo nighean donn bhoidheach (Ho Ro, my Nut-Brown-Maiden)

Thou Hast Ever Left Me, Jamie (Robert Burns)

The Parting Glass (traditional)

The Celtic Heart is a new set of Scottish songs arranged especially for this tour by Glace Bay musician, Stuart Calvert. The set was commissioned through the kindness of a friend of Paula Jane Francis, Lydia (Adams) and Stuart through their connection with the Royal College of Music, U.K., and also through singing together in The Bach Choir in London, U.K. under the great choral conductor, Sir David Willcocks.

The pieces of the set are close to Stuart’s heart with his Scottish heritage, and also to Lydia’s, with her ancestry going back to Benbecula, an Island in the Outer Hebrides. This tour presents the World Première of this set, and the EIS are thrilled to be joined by the Cape Breton Chorale.

Please stay tuned for a separate post on the remarkable musical career of Stuart Calvert.

The Elmer Iseler Singers will make one stop in Cape Breton on their tour of Atlantic Canada. Guests will be the Sons of Membertou, The Men of the Deeps and the Cape Breton Chorale.

See them all on Friday, October 23rd at 7:30 P.M. at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Church (40 Cabot St in Sydney). Tickets are $30 each.

Tickets at the door, pending availability. If we reach capacity, a sold out announcement will be made on our website, on social media and on local radio stations.

📸 Kim Lantz
Written information courtesy of the Elmer Iseler Singers.

10/22/2026

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, we won’t be able to live stream this evening’s October lecture as planned. We’re sorry to those of you who were hoping to tune in from home.

The good news is we’re planning to live stream next month’s talk, and it’s a special one: November’s lecture will celebrate the Old Sydney Society’s 60th anniversary. We hope to see you all there, in person or online!

The lecture is still on in person, so see you in a few hours!

10/21/2026

Do you know the connection between this empty lot on Mahon St in New Waterford and the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas? It's a Six Degrees story made right here in Cape Breton!

Opening the show at Alan Cross' UNCHARTED: LIVE at St Patrick's Church Museum on November 3, I'll be bringing the heat with something I like to call "The History of the Scene... or How I Remember It." I'll have a bunch of stuff from the archives and some good stories to tell. Grab your tickets at https://theopenscene.ca/tickets. Now, on to the tale...

After doing sound at the New Waterford Fire Hall for Josh Brake's birthday back in 2003(?), I made an announcement that I'd be bringing more shows to New Waterford. No plan, just manifestation.

Enter Ben Pearlman. Ben was attending Kings College in Halifax and running Guerilla Concerts Halifax. Ben hit me up about a new band that he was bringing to the Maritimes from the guitarist of At the Mercy of Inspiration, who had just opened for Alexisonfire the previous year. It was time to bring a show to New Waterford.

The Kin Centre on Mahon St was a weird spot. Felt like a firehall or a legion; had a bar but could operate all ages. The stage was wide but high and shallow, making it a bit awkward for bands. The place was in its death throws... hence, punk shows?

Cancer Bats was the first show we held at the Kin Centre. I would go on to present them a pile of other times and become friends with them to this day. Dozens of other bands would hit that stage in the couple of years it held shows. It would become a bottle depot in the late 00s before being demolished shortly after.

Oh, and the connection to the Punk Rock Museum? Well, Ben Pearlman would go on to present Flip the Switch at Alderney Landing, bringing NOFX in for the Maritimes' biggest punk rock festival to that point (and maybe ever?). Fat Mike from NOFX would, of course, go on to open the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas in 2023, which features a Cape Breton connection as Malcolm "Mista Mack" MacLeod (owner of the Bitten Moon Pub) added a DOA poster from their 2012 Elks Lodge show to the museum's archives during his visit to the museum.

10/21/2026

Hello friends! Due to the Norwegian Sun cancelling its visit to Sydney, Cossit House and St. Pat's are closed today. However, the Sydney Museum is open today as per normal. Stop on by and say hello!

10/19/2026

Hello friends! Just a quick message to let you all know that Cossit House is closed today, but that the Sydney Museum and St. Patrick's Church Museum are open as per normal.