HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-08-27, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015.
McGavins to become competitors at upcoming nationals
The upcoming Canadian
Ploughing Match at Pykeview
Meadows in Wolfe Island, Ontario,
will feature a head-to-head match
between a father and son from
Walton.
Brian and Brandon McGavin were
heading to Wolfe Island earlier this
week, having earned the right to
represent Ontario and Alberta,
respectively, at the national match.
Brian says he is looking forward to
the match.
“It’s kind of a neat opportunity,”
he said. “I’ve never experienced the
competition like that before.”
Brian had watched a father and
son from New Brunswick compete
and said he wanted to try that before
he didn’t have the chance.
“I was fortunate to get second in
the big class [in the 2014
International Plowing Match] in
Simcoe County,” he said. “Paul
[Dodds] was only behind me by a
point.”
Brian has been practising a lot
lately because both he and Brandon
have used the same equipment for
years and Brian is using some new
equipment for the competition.
Being his first appearance at the
national competition, Brian said he
is happy to be there.
“I tried when I was younger, but I
always got second or third or fourth
and never got to the top,” he said. “I
thought, the only way I’m going to
get there is to go in the big class, the
Canadian class.”
It worked, and now, Brian will be
taking on his son.
While the competition will be
fierce, Brian said that going up
against Brandon means something
else to him.
“He’s not around here anymore, so
it gives me more time to spend with
him,” he said. “It will be a nice
competition, but we’re not going to
throw things at each other or
anything like that, it will just be nice
to compete together and see if I
taught him enough to beat me.
Brandon, however, felt that there
might be more than a little friendly
competition.
“We both want each other to do
well,” he said. “However, I’m
definitely looking to beat him. I
don’t want him winning instead of
me, so hopefully I can pull it off.”
Brandon is happy to be using the
existing rig because he hasn’t had a
lot of chances to practise in Alberta
where ploughing competitions are
far less prevalent.
Part of what is making Brandon
want to win is the good natured
ribbing he’s getting locally.
“I was at my cousin’s wedding on
the weekend and everyone was
giving me the gears and saying they
would cheer for Dad,” he said.
“Hopefully I can change some of
their minds. Everyone likes to give
me a hard time about being from
Alberta now, but we’re thankful that
everyone’s getting involved and
being supportive.”
Brian agreed, saying that the
support from Huron County is
always the best. As far as
competition goes, however, he said
he is just happy to be able to plough
alongside his son before his body
won’t let him do it anymore.
The two McGavins practised on
Wednesday and will have their gear
locked in now.
The rest of the week involves a
charity auction this evening and a
banquet on Saturday night,
alongside the competition today,
tomorrow and Saturday.
As far as Brandon’s future plans,
he said he wants to represent Alberta
again in 2017 after taking a year off.
He said that coming home to Walton
for the International Plowing Match
would be great and he hopes he and
his father can go toe-to-toe again.
HC Library hopes to get cards to all AMDSB students
The Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB), along with
Huron County Library, Perth East
Public Library, North Perth Public
Library, St. Marys Public Library,
Stratford Public Library and West
Perth Public Library aim to put a
library card in the hands of every
AMDSB student starting in the fall.
With the increased amount of
knowledge, information and
technology (K.I.T.) playing a role in
students’ education today, the idea
for the K.I.T. card was born.
AMDSB Technology Coach Leigh
Cassell brought forward the idea in
early April of 2015. Through
coordination of the public libraries
serving students of the AMDSB,
September 2015 will see all students
from K-12 receive a library card
registration form. Once completed,
students will receive their own
public library card that can be used
during class instruction, as well as
on students’ own time, to access all
of the resources the library has
to offer.
“Leigh is a phenomenal educator
who is always looking for ways to
enrich students’ learning
opportunities. When she approached
us about partnering to give every
single AMDSB student a library
card, we were eager to begin the co-
ordination between the Huron
County Library as well as the five
Perth Libraries to make this project
happen,” said Beth Rumble,
Branch Services Librarian,
Huron County Library.
“Through regular outreach
activities and community
involvement we are able to reach a
segment of the school-aged
population. This program provides
an all-encompassing scope that
really speaks to our values of
equitable access, literacy and
lifelong learning, and community
focus. We are enthusiastic about the
potential benefits our community
will see as a result of this initiative.”
With the roll out of the Next
Generation Learning Program, an
increasing number of AMDSB
students have their own personal
iPad. Additionally, most schools
have multiple sets of iPads or
Netbooks for classroom use. Having
a public library card will give
students access to the thousands of
eBooks and Audiobooks that the
libraries offer, free of charge. In
addition, a library card provides
access to other eResources for online
research, information, or fun.
Libraries are also hoping to see an
increase in patron traffic at their
branches as students explore the
physical collection that is available.
To kick off the program, students
with existing cards who may have
accumulated fines will be given a
one-time forgiveness of all overdue
fines. Students who have a card but
have lost it, will be given a new card
free of charge.
Moving forward, all new students
and those entering Junior
Kindergarten will receive a
registration form at the beginning of
the school year.
“I am very proud to be a part of
this initiative that will provide all
AMDSB students access to the
wealth of resources available from
our public libraries. Working with
the Huron and Perth Public Libraries
has been such a rewarding
experience since we all share a
common passion - to engage
students in literacy, promote a love
of reading, and build positive
relationships with our community
partners. The K.I.T Card program
will create even more opportunities
for our students to achieve success,”
said Leigh Cassell, AMDSB
Technology Coach and founder of
the Digital Human Library.
Continued from page 1
pushed that to over 5,000 gallons.
“We will be using a transfer pump
to get the water out of the system
which can move approximately 300
gallons per hour,” he said. “With
what we got in those rains, we could
operate for nearly 20 hours, meaning
we could keep the grounds watered
for some time.”
He said that the system will
especially help during dry times
because the rain water could be
rationed with management practices.
“This will be better and more
sustainable than us taking water out
of the municipal system,” he said. “It
will be greener and smarter.”
Rainwater key
at Blyth garden
Listen closely
Erin Dolmage of the Maitalnd Valley Conservation Area
encouraged people to keep their ears open during the
annual Wawanosh By Moonlight event at the East
Wawanosh Conservation Area on Aug. 20. (Vicky Bremner photo)
North St. West, Wingham
Mac & Donna Anderson
519-357-1910
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Lives Remembered
Sliding in
The Brussels Squirt softball team was in action over the weekend in its year-end tournament,
taking on Lucknow. The Brussels team won the game by a score of 13-2. The host team would
eventually go on to win the tournament’s A final. (Vicky Bremner photo)