Down to Sally's Cove: Newfoundland Stories by Ella Manuel
“DOWN TO SALLY’S COVE” is a collection of stories about Newfoundland and Labrador by Ella Manuel (1911-1985) and read by me, Antony Berger. I’m the editor of my mother’s writings about the history and rich culture of the places she lived, and the people she knew and loved. New episodes will be uploaded every week until mid-January 2021.
In 1945, after years in England and the USA, Ella returned to Newfoundland to live, a single mother with two small boys. Using her maiden name, she began to write for newspapers and magazines and to read for radio stories about the places and people she met, recapturing some of the forgotten men and women of Newfoundland’s past. Over the next three decades, her voice became known across Canada through her many broadcasts on the CBC. When she died, she left behind a confused mass of undated manuscripts and notes, which I have now arranged and edited. Only a few recordings of her marvellous voice still exist, so I have decided to read her stories myself, notwithstanding the challenge of a male voice substituting for hers.The stories are arranged in five groups. Season 1 is entitled Around Bonne Bay; Season 2 - Friends and Neighbours; Season 3 - Beyond the Bay; Season 4 - Medics, Missionaries and Military Men; Season 5 - Tough Times at Sea; Season 6 - Ghosts and Dirty Tricks
A biography of my mother, together with a selection of her writings and broadcasts, including many of these podcast episodes, has been published under the title “No Place for a Woman. The Life and Newfoundland Stories of Ella Manuel” (Breakwater Books, St. John’s NL, 2020).Down to Sally's Cove: Newfoundland Stories by Ella Manuel
EPISODE 43 - GRANDFATHER'S FAMOUS GOAT
Many are the stories told around Newfoundland and Labrador about goats and rams possessed of special powers and inclined to mad antics. Here is one that Aunt Jenny, who lived in Bloomfield many years ago, told Ella Manuel about a hymn-singing goat.