HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-03-26, Page 13THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015. PAGE 13.
Crusaders tops in province
Committee hopes to breathe life into Logan’s Mill
Groundswell
Volunteers are getting together in Brussels with a plan to restore Logan’s Mill. The Logan’s Mill
Committee was created when Lions Club members Jim Lee and Paul Nichol decided to do
something about the aging structure. Members of the committee include, from left: Nichol,
Huron East Heritage Committee Chair Charlie Hoy and Lee. (Denny Scott photo)
Time to celebrate
Sunday night was one of celebration for the members of the Blyth Brussels Midget AE
Crusaders as they won the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) championship. Players
are seen here seconds after the clock wound down to zero celebrating around (and tackling)
goalie Dalton Carey. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Continued from page 12
a Blyth team that in 1971/1972
became the first team from the
village to win an OMHA title.
The win, he said, is something the
players will carry with them their
whole lives, especially the team’s
eight third-year players, who have
now played their last season of
minor hockey.
Howson said that the players
worked hard and they deserve all of
the fanfare they receive as a result of
the win.
“We’re all very proud of them.
They worked their butts off and
they’re just a great group of kids,”
Howson said.
It was fitting, he said, that the team
played its best period of the series in
its final period – the third period of
Sunday’s game that sealed the
championship.
When the playoffs started, he said,
the coaching staff encouraged
players to count down wins, telling
them they needed to win 12 games to
win the title.
The Crusaders made their way into
the OMHA final by way of another
sweep, taking the first three semi-
final games against Tweed by scores
of 3-2, 4-0 and 6-3. This came after
the Crusaders won three of four
against Muskoka in the quarter-final.
The team’s playoff run began in
Goderich, when the Blyth Brussels
team beat Goderich in the Western
Ontario Athletics Association AE
Group 4 Series B finals, winning the
series three games (six points) to two
(four points).
The Brussels Logan’s Mill
Committee is bringing together
Brussels Lions Club members, the
Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority, the Huron East Heritage
Committee as well as members of
the community to try and breathe
life into the old mill building that
sits on the Maitland River just off
Sports Drive in Brussels.
Exactly how the group will do that
is still undecided, as it hasn’t created
any concrete plans. however,
committee member Paul Nichol said
that if it can start quickly, funding
will be available to help with the re-
purposing of the century-old space.
“There is funding available from
Heritage Canada,” Nichol said
during an on-site inspection last
week. “It’s one-to-one, so whatever
we can raise, in cash, goods or
services, will be matched.”
The funding, however, has
stipulations that will require the
project to start by Sept. 2, which is
100 years to the day that the current
incarnation of the mill was opened.
“There are three key factors for
the funding,” Nichol explained. “It
has to be creating a space or
environment for the arts and support
a celebration or anniversary. If
capital costs are required for the
celebration or the structure
celebrating an anniversary, [Heritage
Canada] will pay half.”
The committee has to figure out
how much it’s going to cost to
renovate the space, the value of
goods discounted or donated and the
value of service so they can go to the
government with that information.
The entire project started at a
Lion’s Club meeting where
members Jim Lee and Nichol agreed
the Logan’s Mill building was a
potential opportunity they should
explore.
As far as the plans go, different
ideas were brought up by several
members of the committee. Some of
the suggestions included a
soundscape that imitates the noises
that would typically be heard in a
mill, a stage facility that starts inside
of the building and faces outward
towards Sports Drive or a rotating
art gallery.
While the ideas came from many
different directions, Nichol said that
the group wasn’t yet committed to
any particular renovations. Those
kinds of plans would need to wait
until the committee saw what it
needed to do and what it could do.
“We’re looking at using natural
aspects as much as possible,” He
said. “We’re not going to commit to
electricity, washrooms, kitchens or
anything like that because we don’t
know what that will involve.”
The mill technically belongs to the
Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority (MVCA), however,
Stewart Lockie, MVCA
Conservation Areas Co-ordinator,
said the building could be leased for
a use such as those being suggested.
“It would still be owned by the
MVCA, but they would work with
the group to look at options for
running it and doing a long-term
lease,” he said. “The only thing you
would have to make sure is that the
organization is sustainable. They
won’t want to sign on with a group
that isn’t going to last.”
Charlie Hoy, chair of the Huron
East Heritage Committee and a
member of the Logan Mill’s
Committee, says this is the
opportune time to take on a project
like this.
“Right now, Brussels is trying to
rebound,” he said. “The main street
is seeing empty stores filled in, the
Brussels Community Development
Trust voted, last night, to try and put
money towards making the new
streetlights more decorative and the
community is just really thriving.
This is a good time to go and try and
benefit from that momentum.”
Anyone interested in trying to help
out should get in touch with the
committee through Lee, Nichol or
Hoy or any of the other members of
the committee, which includes
Geoff Miller, Bryan Morton, Lockie,
Joan van der Meer and Gerry Exel.
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By Denny Scott
The Citizen
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