Loading...
Clinton News Record, 2014-12-17, Page 25Wednesday, December 17, 2014 • News Record 25 Londesborough news Brenda Radford Special to the News Record ET CETERA This week's Christmas quote from Ideals: "A truly blessed Christmas is the gift I'm wishing you filled with joy and laughter and with shining dreams come true." The junior volleyball teams, pupils from Grades 4, 5 and 6, from Hullett Central competed in a tournament at CHSS in Clinton on Wednesday, December 3rd. There were 6 schools participating in this round robin tourna- ment, Clinton, Huron Cen- tennial, Brookside, Sea - forth, Goderich and Hullett. The Goderich teams turned out to be the teams to beat. At day's end Goderich won both the boys' and girls; titles. Clinton placed second in the boys' side while Sea - forth was second on the girls' score sheet. Hullett 's girls team coached by Mrs. Gilroy won a third place spot having 3 wins and two losses. The boys, coached by Mrs. Fritzley, had only one win and two ties with tow losses putting them in fourth place. Next week is the last week of school before the Christmas break and there are plenty of extra activi- ties happening at Hullett. On Monday Christmas dances are planned. The community is invited to join in the carol sing on Wednesday afternoon at 2:10. A swim time for all classes is scheduled for Thursday. Friday is PJ day which should bring out all those Christmas pyjamas. And candy canes are being sold every day as well. Fun activities. With schooling in mind, Mrs. Watt from Hullettt Central begins her discus- sion of schooling in South Africa this week. Being a school secretary, I enjoy spending time in schools in South Africa. It is extremely interesting to speak with the dedicated teachers about the chal- lenges they and their stu- dents face. I always smile at the challenges which are common to both of our cultures (discipline, attendance and childrens' social issues) and I wince when I hear of the extraor- dinary difficulties some of these children have to face on a daily basis. As an out- sider looking in, it is impossible to know all of the in's and out's of the system and I have only seen select pieces of it, but here are some of my observations. An extreme dichotomy between the "haves" and "have nots" in South Africa creates widely diverse edu- cational facilities; some providing excellent and stimulating learning envi- ronments and other strug- gling just to provide basic life skills. Poverty, absen- tee fathers, domestic and sexual abuse, tuberculosis and AIDS wreak havoc on much of the poorer popu- lation. Education is their only hope to change their lot in life and yet, often it takes a back seat to simply surviving. The flip side of this is that there are cutting edge schools, universities and technologies in South Africa and there is a large portion of the population that are highly educated and skilled and sought after in the world job Varna news Joan Beierling Special to the News Record Vama Crokinole Club met for there last time before the New Year last Tuesday Dec. 9th at the Brucefield Community United Church. Sam Bradica and Steve Lefaive took 1st with 39pts, Dave Whyte and Cheryl Trewartha were 2nd with 36pts, close third was Murray Perdue and Cor Vanderhoven with 35pts, Alec Ostrom and Brad Sangster were 4th with 30 pts and close behind them were Ken Pollock and Jack McLachlan with 29pts to take 5th spot. Crokinole will resume Jan 13th at 7:30pm. Merry Christmas to all members of the Club. Sunday Dec. 7th was the Sunday School Advent Service with Worship leader Colin Snyder, greeters Joyce Hum- mel and Linda Keys. Readers were the teachers and children from the Sunday School. Audrey McClennan led the Service. Weston Rathwell lit the candle of Peace and Deidre Gerrtis did the Call to Worship. The Gathering Prayer was by Leanne Colclough. The Dedication of the Church cushions for the pews donated by Mary Grace Wightman took place by Colin Worship and Mary Grace was in the Congregation. Many thanks to her for the comfortable seats. The Senior Sunday School then pre- sented A story brought to Life "What are You Looking foe Prayer of Confession by Pat brodie and Anne Claussen. The Junior Boy" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" which stole the show. Crystal Snyder shared her gift of music and did a musical interlude on the piano for the presenta- tion of the offering. Thank you Crystal! Brenda Chuter did the prayer of Dedica- tion. The West Jets Christmas Miracle was also shown on the screen. CONTINUED > PAGE 26 markets. In fact, an exodus of skilled trades and pro- fessions is a constant prob- lem for the country. Another example of the two ends of the spectrum so often seen here. Education in South Africa seems to be moving towards a common curric- ulum; however, implemen- tation of the curriculum varies greatly and is hugely biased by local custom. In theory, there are no longer segregated schools but in reality, most schools are divided by racial groups. For the most part, blacks do not attend white schools and whites do not attend black schools, although a gradual mixing is beginning to occur. Schools are funded based on a "Quintile" sys- tem. Each school is rated on a scale of one to five based on the socio-eco- nomic situation of the pop- ulation they serve. A school which serves mainly black children in the townships or settle- ments (impoverished shanty towns) would be rated quintile 1 while a school which serves an affluent white neighbour- hood would be rated a quintile 5. Children attend- ing quintile 1 schools do not pay anything for their education or materials although they must be able to pay for a school uni- form. Children attending a quintile 5 school would pay several thousand dol- lars a year. Schools rated in between would have a fee schedule between the two. Further columns will introduce you to the schools that I visit in South Africa. WHITE GIFT SERVICE Have you heard? Jesus is born and that's such good news! And you heard it all here. That was the message delivered at Londesbor- ough United Church on Sunday, December 7th by the Sunday School. It was the annual White Gift Ser- vice and the children pre- sented a skit titled "Just a Little Christmas': The children of the Sun- day School did an admira- ble job handling all aspects of the regular service and retelling the ages old story of Jesus' birth. All the regu- lar cast was represented, Mary and Joseph, angels and wise men and no sta- ble birth place would be complete without a few animals. This year's telling even included King Herod and a couple of his henchmen. The children gathered on the stage to introduce the story with a song about the animals titled, "Oh, What a Special Night': They concluded their telling with the action song, "Hush, Sh, There's a Baby': The congregation helped out by singing three appro- priate hymns during the play. Londesborough United suggests churchgoers bring along gifts for the Huron County Christmas Bureau to this service. Those gifts ensure all families in the area have gifts at Christ- mas. The wagons brought into the sanctuary by the children were filled with such gifts. Items on the mitten tree will also be taken to the bureau. The sanctuary has been tastefully decorated for the season. OFFICE HOURS The Office Hours for The Clinton News Record are as follows Mondays - 9am - 5pm Tuesdays - CLOSED Wednesdays - 9am - 5pm Thursdays - 9am - 5pm Fridays - 9am - 5pm lowsCli n Record 53 Albert St., Clinton, ON PH: 519-482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com