On Wednesday, November 19, the Champlain Public Library’s Karin Dierckx welcomed a full house of more than 30 community members, including family and friends from near and far, to the Vankleek Hill Creating Centre, for an in-depth and fascinating presentation by David Stringer, titled “The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, from Pharaoh Narmer (3100 BC) to Queen Cleopatra (30 BC)”.
Stringer, who had taken a trip to Egypt earlier this year with his wife Michèle, drew on their recent travels to craft the presentation and generously guided the audience through 3,000 years of Egyptian history in just two hours.
A lighthearted moment came when Dierckx jokingly introduced Stringer as having been born in England 3,000 years ago. The room erupted in gales of laughter as she said she was just making sure we were paying attention.
Stringer immigrated to Canada in 1958, went on to an accomplished career in Engineering, including serving as Chief Engineer on Toronto’s Dome Stadium Project and consulting on the World Trade Centre in New York. He graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester and a B.A. in Art History from Carleton University, and he later established his own consulting company. Stringer has been an enthusiastic private pilot for many years and has a lifelong passion for nature, history, and travel.
Stringer’s talk left attendees inspired by both the sweep of ancient civilization and the speaker’s own remarkable journey.
One attendee, who made the trip all the way from Gatineau to hear Stringer’s presentation, summed it up perfectly:
“I so appreciated the clarity of your presentation, and you covered far more than I would have ever thought possible in two hours… Clearly that talk represented hours of thought and research in addition to the selection of representative slides from what must have been a treasure trove of photos from your trip.”
