A talented young cast, directed by museum assistant Jade Lewis, have completed their second production.

"The Rainy Royal Visit" tells the story of the visit to the Cochrane hospital in 1912 by the Duke of Connaught and his daughter Princess Patricia.

The Duke of Connaught, the only member of the Royal Family to serve as the Governor-General of Canada, and his daughter were originally in the area for a fishing and camping trip while en route to attend the first Calgary Stampede. Those plans were suddenly changed due to days of pouring rain and they ended up on the doorsteps of the hospital.

"Patricia was quite involved in humanitarian work," explains Lewis. "She would go on to volunteer for the Red Cross and have her own hospital. So she was quite inspired by hospitals and she visited a lot of small hospitals and care centres when she toured with her father."

Oddly enough, it was our own heavy rainfall here that helped inspire the production that follows the video "The Cochrane Ranche" produced last summer.

"I chose this topic because it kept pouring rain here. So I thought it would be perfect. The morning we came to film it the rain stopped. It began raining again as soon as we left, of course," she laughs.

The story of the visit is also a popular one told to visitors of the Cochrane Museum, operated by the Cochrane Historical Archival Preservation Society (CHAPS)

"In the last video, we covered the Cochrane Ranche, where this home is now located. But we thought it would be cool to do something about the building itself and this is a pretty neat story considering you don't think about Royals coming to Cochrane that often, even though Elizabeth came here in 1951."

The information comes from an account in the Cochrane Advocate, the newspaper of the day, and local history books. 

Claire Lewis plays Princess Patricia, her brother Miller is the Duke of Connaught and Brooke Hanratty is Mrs. Davies. The video also stars Lauren Hanratty and Julie and Rose Fraser. Gordon Davies returns as the narrator.

Many more details can be found in the video or by visiting the museum.

The Cochrane Museum is located at the Cochrane Ranche Historic Site and is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 12 noon to 3 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

There is no admission fee but donations are graciously accepted.