Born in Liverpool, Derrick Bowring (1916-2009) arrived in St. John's in 1935 to join Bowring Brothers Ltd. and learn the retail side of the family business. With Fred Ayre, he expanded Bowring's retail business into iconic gift shops across Canada. When he retired in 1977, he was chairman of the board of directors.Amy Bowring is the Director of Collections and Research at Canada's national dance archives, Dance Collection Danse, and is an instructor at Ryerson University. In the field of Canadian dance history, she has curated exhibitions, published articles and lectured widely. She is the granddaughter of Derrick Bowring.