Doors Open Aurora 2012, Aurora Armoury & The Queen’s York Rangers An Historic Regiment Book

Looking forward, next year I am marking the Aurora Doors Open on my calendar – booked.

I did same kind of booking last year and everything was looking great this year until Matthew got a birthday party invitation two weeks before. Unexpected is impossible to control – I learned.


I cannot complain because every year it is getting better. Last year I had none time available and this year at least I had couple of hours to play with.

I thought may be I can cover at least five places, but no way. Once I engaged myself with the visit everything around me started to be interesting enough so I stayed longer than anticipated in each place. I only covered three places this year.


My starting point was Aurora Armoury on Larmont Street, Town Park. I always wanted to know what was happening inside. When I arrived they had nice army vehicle on display in front, but the inside not sure if I liked it at first. Just one big open space. I asked – photos were allowed.

I always ask just in case and try to remember an important lesson from one of our trips to one of the Greek Islands, Santorini. Many years ago, that is in 1997 we were touring an archaeological site completely roofed on the Santorini Island. Cameras were allowed but absolutely no flash.

I still remember that one moment when two older ladies were snapping pictures like there was no tomorrow. No body said anything but when they got caught by the tour guide it wasn’t pleasant to watch all the lecturing.

One of the reasons is that light can cause damage to objects, especially the UV light. Therefore, it is always important that any original photos displayed on the wall are always away from sunlight.


Now back to the Aurora Armoury. No body was really walking any body around. I was told I can look around. Oh great, where do I go from here. But things brighten up when I entered one of the lounge rooms.

Immediately I enjoyed looking at the photos on the wall. Portrait of young Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were very striking. Lots of war photos and army poses just like the one below.


When I look at those photos sometimes I wonder if anyone on those pictures is relative to someone here in Aurora. I wonder if anyone on the photo owns a copy of the photo they are on. Maybe this is the only copy developed?


Lucky me to turn around and take photo of something on the wall. This is when I spotted second lounge room. It was just like walking into a museum. More photos on the wall and small artifacts in the glass cabinet on the display.


It is interesting how sometimes everything connects. I have been doing some serious business with Ron Wallace. He was able to find me a nice collection of books about Aurora, related to Aurora and some by Aurorans. I picked them up last Tuesday.

At some point he brought some other books and showed me The Queen’s York Rangers, An Historic Regiment book by Stewart H. Bull. If I had never visited the Aurora Armoury on Larmont Street I would probably said no, but now I am a proud owner of this reference book. Yes, reference book. Not something I would read before my bedtime.