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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-02-05, Page 3THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015. PAGE 3. The North Huron Trail Groomers officially opened their trails with limited availability on Jan. 30 according to the group’s Facebook site, just prior to the large dumping of snow received by the area overnight between Feb. 1 and Feb. 2. The group, which had previously kept trails closed due to a lack of snow, joined other area groups that have opened their trails with a limited offering in surrounding communities. Locally, a large section of trails from Brussels east to Stratford, and from Seaforth north to nearly Wroxeter are officially open and available. While most trails north of Highway 8, and several south of the road, are open, further south in Bluewater and South Huron trails remain closed. For the most up-to-date information on which parts of local trails are open, visit ofsc.mapbase.ca/viewer N. H. snowmobile trails limited In trust Gary Courtney of Blyth Building Supplies, with the support of the companies that provide materials to his business, brought together an impressive selection of tickets to NHL and OHL games as well as a piece of Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia to give out as prizes in a raffle that will set up a trust fund for Austin Plunkett, the son of the recently deceased Kenny Plunkett who died as a result of a motor vehicle collision last year. The raffle draw will be held at the annual Family Day get-together at the Courtney property on Scott Line on Feb. 14. (Denny Scott photo) Groudhog Day provides hope Greeting worshippers at Blyth United Church on Sunday, Feb. 1 was Tom Cronin. Ushering were Hope Button, Tom Cronin and Lavern Clark. Lori Brooks welcomed everyone to church and drew attention to the announcements in the bulletin and scrolling on the power point before the church service started. She drew special attention that next Sunday would be the dedication of the new look to the kitchen and a celebration with lunch of lasagna, cabbage rolls, mac ’n cheese, salad and dessert with a free-will donation. Lori invited everyone to greet one another. Harrison Bedard and Tanner Brooks helped her light the candles on the altar table. The centring music, “I Am The Light of the World” was sung followed by the responsive prayer of approach along with the sign language in response. The song, “Rise Up, Rise Up” was sung. The scriptures were from Luke 8: 22-25 and the story of Jonah. The heritage hymn, “Be Still, My Soul” was sung. The children were asked to come to the front for their story time. Rev. Clark asked the children if they had ever played hide and seek and been found? This is what Jonah was doing when he was hiding from God. He told the children that this morning in Sunday school they were going to hear the story of Jonah and the whale. The children said a prayer along with Rev. Clark and the congregation and went downstairs for their time of fellowship. Rev. Clark’s message to the congregation was groundhog says “Get your own shadow.” The groundhogs want us to get our own shadow. If the groundhog sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter, if he doesn’t see his shadow, spring is close at hand. Groundhog Day is a day for hope in the middle of winter, even though it is a silly tradition. To weather the storms of life, we all need hope. In the scriptures, the disciples asked Jesus to calm the storm and in the other scripture Jonah doesn’t want to do what God wants him to do and God causes the storm. The truth being that maybe Jonah had lost his faith. We can’t run from ourselves. The purpose of a personal storm is to teach us something about ourselves. A storm will always come unless we learn from that storm. When you are on a boat you are always moving even though you are standing still. We are always moving on earth even if we are standing still as the earth itself is moving. It is often hard to calm a storm. Jesus teaches us to have faith in God and to grow in our faith. We watched a video of a football play in which the kicker was asked to kick the ball farther than he had ever kicked it. His answer was no I can’t kick it that far. His coach told him that he had faith in him and knew he could kick it that far and he did. God will help if we do our best. We all need just one person to believe in us and that will give us faith that we too can do it. Floyd Herman gave a short history of the anthem, “Teach Me Your Ways O Lord” that the choir sang. The offering was received followed by the offertory response, “In the Bleak Midwinter”, the offertory prayer, the prayers for the people, silent prayers and the singing of The Lord’s Prayer. The last hymn, “Jesus Saviour, Pilot Me” was sung. Rev. Clark extinguished the candles on the altar table as a symbol that the light had transferred to all of the congregation followed by the singing of the “Three Fold Amen”. Everyone was invited for coffee, fellowship and treats before returning to their homes. The Citizen The deadline for the February 19 paper will be Friday, February 13 2 pm in Brussels and 4 pm in Blyth offices will be closed on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16 for 413 Queen St., Blyth 519-523-4792 541 Turnberry St., Brussels 519-887-9114 SHEAR TALENT Hair Design & Tanning Perms $57 + taxPartials $46 + tax 45 West St., Goderich 519-524-6555 By Marilyn Craig Call 523-9318 From Marilyn’s Desk To honour the memory of a friend and big supporter of the annual Family Day Courtney Farm get- together, the Courtney family has decided to brand this year’s event the Kenny Plunkett Memorial Snowday at the Bush. The event, which is held at the Courtneys’ property on Scott Line, runs from 1 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Feb. 14 and features indoor and outdoor fun for people of all ages. Organizers estimated that 100 people attended last year’s event and are preparing for twice that this year. Alongside the rebranding of the event, a raffle is being held to raise money to start a trust fund for Austin Plunkett, the son of Teresa Dykstra and the late Kenny Plunkett. Plunkett died as a result of a motor vehicle collision in August of last year. The raffle has been organized by Blyth Building Supplies owner and operator Gary Courtney who put the call out to many of the companies he does business with to provide rewards for the event. “All the family and friends decided we should do something,” Courtney said, who is one of the primary raffle ticket-selling representatives. “We’re raising money for a trust fund for Austin. Every one of our suppliers is helping out.” While tickets are available at Blyth Building Supplies, they are also available at many other downtown Blyth businesses. Prizes for the draw include three tickets and a two night stay for a Montreal Canadiens game, four Buffalo Sabres tickets, four London Knights tickets, four Guelph Storm tickets, four Kitchener Rangers tickets and four vouchers for the Stratford Festival, and one Toronto Maple Leaf print featuring and signed by Allan Stanley, Johnny Bower and Bobby Baun. The draw will be held at 5 p.m. and Courtney said there might be a surprise item or two at the event either in the raffle or as a silent or live auction item. For more information, visit Blyth Building Supplies. Event rebranded to Plunkett Memorial, raffle started for trust The Divine Gardener! “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit!” John 15:2 (J.C. Ryle) The Father is ever training the members of this family for their everlasting abode with Him in Heaven. He acts as a gardener pruning his vines, that they may bear more fruit. He knows the character of each of us...our besetting sins, our weaknesses, our peculiar infirmities, our special needs, our trials, our temptations, and our privileges. He knows all these things, and is ever ordering all for our good. He allots to each of us, in His providence, the very things we need, in order to bear the most fruit. He gives us... as much of sunshine as we can stand--and as much of rain; as much of bitter things as we can bear--and as much of sweet. Trials are intended...to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, and to drive us to our knees! “The Christian grows by tears--and withers by smiles. God’s vines thrive the better for pruning.” (Stephen Charnock) A Grace Gem Submitted by: Immanuel United Reformed Church, Listowel, ON 519-291-1956 Happy birthday to Brenda Edgar who celebrates Feb. 1; Vera Hesselwood, London, Feb. 4; Mac Brooks, Feb. 5; Evelyn Caldwell and Jeff Josling, Feb. 6; Lawrence Plaetzer, Feb. 9 and Jacob Josling, Feb. 11. Mother Nature let Wiarton Willie know who is boss this morning when the area was hit with yet another snow day. Many of the schools and roads in the area were closed on Monday and by the time I sat down to write this column the sun was out. Nature disagrees with Willie See histories and historic photographs on the Huron History section of our website www.northhuron.on.ca