From UK to CK, Chatham-Kent hoping to attract former residents home

After 20 years living in London, UK Bryan McLellan decided it was time to return to Chatham, Ont.

While in Europe he studied the drums, joined the bang Vega4 releasing albums on Sony and Capitol Records, and touring with artists like Bryan Adams. Hethen taught at the London Centre of Contemporary Music. McLellan even did some work on the recent Golden Globe nominated film Bohemian Rhapsody. He coached Ben Hardy who plays the drums in it.

Now with two sons he thought it was time to return to Canada.

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"We just really wanted our boy to grow up around family," McLellan said."Chatham is a real safe environment. It was a cool life, but pretty exhausting."

He said it was tough to make ends meet in London also busy and becoming less safe.

McLellan and his family are back in Chatham and he's working at TransForm SSO, which does a lot of purchasing and sourcing for the five hospitals in the Erie St. Clair LHIN.

"It feels good to be plugged back into the local community," he said.

baCK Home for the Holidays

In 2013, baCK Home for the Holidays started after the municipality consulted with residents, particularly young people, about what would bring them back to Chatham-Kent, said Victoria Bodnar, coordinator of resident attraction and retention for the municipality.

"Many people showed interested, 84 per cent of them, in being connected to the community," she said. "So, it showed an opportunity for people who were born and raised here are interested in coming back."

BaCK Home for the Holidays showcases some of reasons why people would want to move back later in life. Each year they have activities they found people liked about Chatham-Kent, including outdoor recreations. This December there are four sponsored free skate nights.There is also a family movie night at the Chatham Capitol Theatre.

A big aspect of people wanting to return home is finding employment. YconneCKt Holiday Cheer is meant for people to network with local businesses and showcase entrepreneurial stories from the area.

"Year round we do baCK to CK profiles and those are stories that we're telling, local stories of why someone chose to come back and what they're doing in the community now," she said.

The initiative seems to be working. Bodnar said there are less people leaving Chatham-Kent in 2016 than there were in 2011. As well she said, the BMA Municipal study shows there is some population growth happening in the area.

"It suggests our population has actually grown from 102,000 to 105,000."