About Us

Torbay Heritage Committee members, left to right: Cathy Boylan, Co-Treasurer, Jeff Green, Vice-President, Lara Maynard, President and Jerri Pellegrinetti, Museum Curator. Other committee members include Jim Eustace (Co-Treasurer), Brian White (Co-Secretary), Laurie Dempster (Co-Secretary), Leo Ryan, Bernadette Parsons, Anna Piercey, Patricia O'Brien, Michael Rodgers, Allyson Rodgers and Lynda Lalonde. Our town council liaison is Councillor Pam Evans."

The Torbay Heritage Committee formed in 1975. We were originally affiliated with the public library, under the direction of the late Dr. Jim Tague, who was our President. John Ryan was our first Vice-President.

One of our first projects was to establish a display of historical artifacts, which we placed in the town hall. From that humble start, we’ve moved onto bigger projects.

Today, our committee oversees the Torbay Museum, which now houses hundreds of artifacts and carries out special projects to promote and preserve our community's heritage. We’re an active member of the Museums Association of Newfoundland and Labrador and CHIN – the Canadian Heritage Information Network.

We have compiled the parish records for both Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas parishes here in Torbay. We published Solomon Gosse’s Birthday in 1999, which is a collection of songs, poems and recipes from Torbay and surrounding areas.

Every year we’re involved with the annual Torbay Santa Claus parade and have attended the Avalon Heritage Fair.

We welcome community, senior and youth groups to our museum and have helped young children in groups such as Beavers and Brownies become acquainted with their town’s history. We also hold an annual flea market to help raise money to operate our museum. And, we’ve lent a helping hand to various Canada Day and Remembrance Day activities.

We’re a small but active group who meet once a month, except during the summer months, to plan and carry out projects related to heritage preservation. And we’re always looking for new members.