Sonningdale held their 34th annual Valentine's banquet Feb. 9 at the Sonningdale Seniors' Centre. Thank you to everyone who helped with this event.
This year the entertainment was supplied by Per Vinding from Dundurn. Born in Denmark, Per first came to the Prairies with his family at six years of age. Per developed his love for music at an early age, his father being a sought-after fiddle player for many functions and dances. Spending his formative years on the Prairies left a lasting impact on Per's life. He made a decision to follow Jesus one day while attending Sunday School at the Dundurn Gospel Mission, now Dundurn Gospel Church.
After his father passed away when Per was 12 years old, he moved back to Denmark with his mother and the other siblings that were still living at home, but the "damage" had been done. Per had developed a fascination and love for the wide open prairies, the cold winters, watching the farmers during harvest and the cowboys during round-up and the sound of long lonely train whistles echoing through the cold nights. The prairies were in his blood.
With quiet determination, Per spent the next five years working every odd job he could get his hands on to raise the money for his ticket. At 17, he had finally done it. He bought his ticket and headed back to Canada, back to Saskatchewan, back to Dundurn where he met his to-be wife Deb.
Per strayed for a number of years, but in 1981 he re-dedicated his life to God and started singing in church that same year. In 1988, he started singing and playing mandolin and harmonica with the Western Reapers. Shortly afterwards, the group was renamed Kountry Sonshine. Within a few years he had become the lead singer with the band.
In 2003, Per ventured out on his own as an artist. He has been doing more solo performances and is making that his main focus. In 2003, 2004, and 2006, Per won Male Vocalist of the Year Award with the CGMA.
In 2004, Per added whistling to his program and people seemed to enjoy it so he began to whistle more and more. He also won an award for whistling that year. He went on to compete internationally in Branson, Mo., and won the whistling competition three years in a row. In 2007, as a three time winner of the Golden Heart award in Whistling, Per was awarded the Platinum Heart.
In 2006, Per met Ed Textor, a cousin on Deb's side of the family. Meeting Ed and his wife Alice led to being introduced to Ed's family. Among these was Ed's brother Bill. Through the years cousin Bill had worked with various artists and therefore was able to introduce Per to Gene Breeden, owner and operator of Gene Breeden Recording Studio in Nashville, Tenn.
Soon two of Per's dreams became reality. He was able to work with Gene's exceptional team and record his first album, Why Me. Per was also able to sing and whistle at the Texas Troubadour Theatre in Nashville. Per has since gone back to record a second album of cowboy and trail songs, which will be titled Winds of Yesterday.
Per retired from the PCS Allan potash mine in 2006 so has been able to devote more time to other interests. He and Deb still reside in Dundurn and Per spends his time promoting his music and serving on Dundurn town council. Per spent eight years on Dundurn town council as an alderman. In October of 2009 he ran for mayor and was elected so he will be spending more time at the town office.
Per also enjoys hunting, fishing, tinkering in the garage and picks up the odd paying job now and then.
