Do you know of anyone being pranked today?
Check out this website for some April Fools' Fun.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/01/april-fools-jokes-2014-best-web
Or about this one about Dundurn Castle in Hamilton . Check out this link
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4439735-paul-wilson-brits-say-dundurn-castle-is-low-rent/
Paul Wilson: Brits say Dundurn Castle is low-rent
VIDEO: Dundurn Abbey?
Hamilton landmark gets the royal treatment on April 1
DUNDURN CASTLE
Hamilton Spectator file photo
Will Dundurn Castle remain a castle?
MACNAB
Hamilton Spectator file photo
Allan McNab: bit of a rogue, really, but definitely not royal.
DOWNTON ABBEY
The Associated Press
Will Dundurn Castle become Dundurn Abbey? The name has a nice ring to it.
Hamilton Spectator
Behind the heavy oak doors of Dundurn Castle, a confidential meeting took place last Wednesday afternoon.
A dozen people, including the mayor, several members of the Hamilton Historical Board, key tourism officials and Dundurn curator Avril Blague assembled at the long table in the dining room.
They were there to figure out fast what to do next after City Hall received a dispatch from Queen Elizabeth's chief of protocol.
The problem is this. The Queen would prefer that Hamilton stop calling Dundurn a castle.
Though the Queen lives most of the year at Buckingham Palace, it is widely known that her favourite place to be is Windsor Castle.
It is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world, and the Queen is proud of that. She is the honorary chair of the British-based Royal Society of Castle Standards, a group that works doggedly to ensure the true castles of the world are not cheapened and devalued.
Just last year, with the Queen's quiet support, the society succeeded in having Australia's Iandra Castle stripped of its name. And now Hamilton's Dundurn is in the society's sights.
According to the society, the definition of a castle is quite clear: "a large building, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and in many cases a moat."
Dundurn meets none of the criteria. The society is sometimes flexible if a building that calls itself a castle once housed royals. Allan MacNab, who completed the 72-room structure in 1835, was premier of Canada West for a couple of years, but he was no royal.
Indeed, as the British castle society points out, MacNab was something of a rogue. His business enterprises rose and fell, and he died a penniless debtor.
The Queen has now intimated that if Hamilton fails to drop "Castle" from the Dundurn name, she will instruct daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, to resign her post as Royal Patron of Dundurn Castle. MacNab is Camilla's great-great-great grandfather.
We're told that last week's meeting at Dundurn was tense, and some there supported sending a dispatch to the Queen's representative with a polite invitation to, in effect, "shove it."
Cooler heads prevailed, however, and options were considered. Dundurn House. Dundurn Mansion. Dundurn Estate.
Then apparently someone said Hamilton should capitalize on the popularity of British period drama Downton Abbey. It's been a runaway ratings hit for the American PBS network.
That individual suggested a new name — Dundurn Abbey. The report we're getting is that each person around that polished table said the words out loud. Dundurn Abbey. They liked it and want to trumpet an official name change on Canada Day.
It still needs formal approval when the general issues committee meets at City Hall tomorrow. But the name-change team has a celebrity card up its sleeve that should sell the politicians on the move.
It was confirmed yesterday that Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Lady Grantham in the Downton Abbey series, would be available July 1{+s}t to preside over celebrations at Hamilton's new Dundurn Abbey.
She is the lone American in the large Downton cast, and not surprised that the city has run into this problem over protocol. "The British are lovely people," she posted on Twitter, "but sometimes they are impossibly stuffy I do know for a fact, however, that they love to celebrate April Fool's Day."
We will not be having a club in May. I know everyone is disappointed. I will be training the volunteers who have signed up for computers for seniors. If you are interested in volunteering to help seniors learn the computer please contact me at 905-563-7014 and ask for Margaret.
