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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-12-16, Page 19BY GREGOR CAMPBELL The Huron Road was the means by which this part of the province was opened for settlement in the early 1830s. Can the heritage route, most of which now follows the route of highways 7 then 8 from Guelph to Goderich, again become a regional attraction? The Ministry of EmploymeOt and Immi- igration thinks it's worth a try, and recently approved a grant of $23,358 to provide for two jobs for the project. called "A Million . Acres of HistOry," under the Canada Community Development Program. Colonel Anthony Van Egmond super- vised the-construction of the Huron Road (1828-30). and fittingly the project will be co-ordinated from the VatirEgmond Foun• dation site in Egmondvilfe, though the foundation is only one of many various orgianizations involved. Foundation chairman Paul Carroll says two individuals were 'hired last week for the ministry's "A Million Acres of History'. program. Megan A. Puffer of Kinburn will be project manager. She is to start immediately. Carol Chase Luiting of Goder- ich has been hired a's a graphics and clerical worker. Christmas in BON00 -about 501000.-tourii$ will be..lhere The objectives of the program are: * To establish a coordinated approach 'to the promotion of the various heritage and related tourist'sites along the route of the Canada Company Huron Road passing through Waterloo. Perth and Huron coun- ties. • A historical review and the identifica- tion of relevant heritage 'highlights along the Huron Road through an examination of, Canada Company Archives at the Univer- sity of Western Ontario. London and Ontario's Provincial Archives in Toronto. * Co'nfirmation of the actual route of the Huron Road as relating to existing provin- cial and county highways. * To develop and produce promotion materials and strategies for the promotion of this heritage route as a regional attraction. • To undertake the establishment of a promotion network for the purpbse of cooperative financing for materials of regional value to the various groups and organizations involved. Letters of support for the project have been received from, among others: 'the Ministry of Industry and Tourism (London), the Ontario Architectural Conservancy County of Huron, 'Huron County Develop- ment Office, Stratford Chamber 'of Com- merce, Seaforth, Goderich Tourist Commit- tee. Huron County Historical Society, , Stratford and Area Visitors and. Convention Bureau, Stratford and Perth County Ar- chives and MPP Jack Riddell. Co-ordination is "the cm of a regional , approach, says Mr. Carroll,"-who notes regional approaches to heritage matters have worked in the Sarnia and Niagara River Area- He's enthused about the concept. and feels it might bring our local history alive and allow area pioneers to be "given ,a chance to assume their rightful place in Canadian'history." Col. Van Egmond is one of the most colourful figures in Canadian history, yet you won't find much about him on library shelves or school curriculums, says Mr. Carroll. "We always say Canada has no heroes-- it's because they're not written about." S BEAVERS-ARE110613 SPORtS — in the recent Great 4kee.oldtimera Hockey Tournament in London, 'the. 86aforth Beaver Oldtiniera Hockey team won the fairplay trophy. Jack McLiwain was presentecil with the - teams trophy by Randy Ellis, president of the Canadian Oldtimers Hockey Association. (COHA) • It's back to the drawing 'board for firehall The Seaforth Fire Alta Committee has sent its proposal for a new fire halt' back to its consultant, B.M. Ross and.Aatotiates Ltd. of Goderich, for re-evaluation. ComMittee , secretary-treaturer Jim Crocker 'says the consultant has also been asked to compare prospective costs of a pre-engineered build ing to *building of conventional construction. and the fire area committee expects to have this report and re-evaluation by its next meeting Dec. 22. The committee's first proposal involved a total estimated construction cost of S295.0004 and an estimated site purchase cost oft 521,853, which would have been shared in on to use by Seaforth and the townships of McKiilop, Tuckersmith, Hib- bert and Hullett. Construction Was to commence in the spring of 1982. But Seaforth and Tuckersmith councils each recently expressed concern over these costs and sent the proposal back to the fire area committee. which inctUrn sent it back to the drawing board. pro el* SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1981 [Second Section Pages B1 - 88] renowne Aubrey Crich in his WWI flyer's uniform Editor's Note: (The information in this article was obtained from recent features that appeared in two publications: The esA (Photographic Society of America) Journ, al. Sept. 81, and. The Mayok(timnus. July 81 -) He has a grand passion for an enormous put tiny world tight under his nose. And it's Made Seaforth-native Dr. Aubrey Crich a master of his third career. He's an accomplished nature photographer, now focusing his infectious enthusiasm on the fascinating world of insects. "And the beauty of it is, you don't have to travel the globe to find it," says Dr. Crich. "It's right here, in small ponds. clumps of undergrowth-right under your nose wher- ever you are." WONDER AND DRAMA "In nature photography there is wonder, drama and excitement whether you are 18 or 80. There is no need to take drugs to get your kicks. Just go find yourself an insect and a camera to record for others what you see. This is sure to give you the shot-in-the-arm you may need to keep your adrenalin flowing and your outlook young. "It still works for me." Dr. Crich is a peppery. intensely alive 84. still setting his sights on goals that would tax the stamina of many a person half his age. His interest in color photography stems from about ItAl. and since has blossomed in photography's big leagues. In 1964 he was only the second Canadian to receive the coveted Five-Star Award in the color slide division of the prestigious Photographic Society of America. Four years later he won another Fi e-Star Award in the PSA's nature division, followed by a PSA Diamond Star .Award' in 1972: In 1976 the PSA awarded him a fellowshipine of its highest recognitions, for "uniqu proficiency in color and nature photography and the complete sharing of this wealth of know- ledge." His work keeps him in touch with leading Canadian entomologists and muse- um curators. and Dr. Crich lectures extensively from Los Angeles to Seaforth. He' was ,back at Seaforth Public Schogl recently /to put on a show. One or his crowning achievements was-to have three of his pictures published in Canada's Centen- nial book, "Canada, A Year of The Land." ' But he hasn't lost his sense of humour. it seems to be one of his distinguishing characteristics. "Dealing with insects is ideal for old-timers like me." Dr. Crich says. "They're not too heavy. you see.• • He has lived in Grimsby since 1940. But let's start at the beginning BORN HERE Aubrey was born _het in Seaforth. the oldest of eight children. E en as a wee, wiry lad he was fascinated by nature. collecting and identifying moths and butterflies. In 1917 he was a 20-year-old high school graduate helping to make shells for a living, and thinking he should perhaps be taking a more active role in World War 1. So he volunteered for flying duty at 18, and after ground training in England and flight school in France, he flew a few missions in a fragile. open-cockpit deHaviland 9 on bombing missions in France before Armi- stice Day. He returned unharmed to . Canada in 1919, entered the University of Toronto and graduated with a dentistry degree in 1923. Then came a year of practice in Caledonia. where he met his wife. In 1924 he became the first Canadian to study dentistry at the world famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Minn., beginning his fellowship under Boyd S. Gardner who introduded at Mayo one of the earliest programs of postgrad- uate training in oral surgery in the U cd States. A FRUIT FARMER Dr. Crich returned to Canada in 1.926 to found a dental department in a Toronto clinic. then ready for a second career he and his wife moved to Grimsby in 1940 and bought a fruit farm which they successfully operated for a number of vears. "The trouble was," he says. '''a few people knew Thad been an oral surgeon and they slatted asking me if I'd treat their. So pretty soon, 1.bad a small siirgery, set up in the farmhouse." He ended up blending fruit farming with oral surgery. Patients had to find their,ftsay to his farmhouse dental office -with the aid of a map printed on the reverse side of his business card. Di. Crich sold the orchard after World War 11, after an exceptionally heavy harvest when he "couldn't find enough workers to help pick the stuff." He then bought the house the Crichs still occupy on Grimsby's Main Street added a surgery and continued his practice until 1969. the year he suffered two heart attacks. Ten years later he was elected an honorary member of the Canadian Society of Oral Surgeons. The heart attacks didn't seem to slow him down, only change his focus. Dr. Crich used an inexpensive camera to fill up his spare time after World War 11 when he had sold the orchard. and in short order was producing pleasing color slides. He was "hooked." "I chose wild flowers first." he explains. "because they stay put." Then he gradu- ated to photographing wild birds and spent long hours in blinds, often in miserable weather and under cramped conditions. waiting to capture the decisive moment on film. 'Patience and an eye for composition are the highest of virtues in this, avocation. From birds it was a short hop to bugs. or more properly insects, Dr. Crich's latest photographic passion. From earlier excur- sions in the woods. or wherever.' he learned beauty can be two-faced. VICIOUS INSECTS "Feeding blackflies and mosquitos is not my favourite pas time," he -notes. On treks into, the woods he solved the problem with two pair of trousers, two shirts. lots of insect repellent and, where insects were "really vicious", a black _nylon bee-veil. With a growing interest in insects of the underwater variety he found a better way, and started bringing the mosquitos to MohamMed, so to speak. Today in his basement studio there's an aquarium where ' he can reftroduce the natural habitat of the various insects and capture their different stages of development on film without lugging all that heavy equipment around. It was this set-up that afforded him the chance to photography a praying mantis laying her large foam egg mass. a chance he'd been denied up to then, because he'd never been able-to-find a-mantis at the right time. So he combined his studio and ingenuity to come up with a solution, and placed an ad in the local paper. Within a week children had delivered seven of the insects to his home. "It took-another week, feeding and watching, before One of them cooperated." Dr. Crich says. ALL CATALOGUED He has between 12,000 and 15,000 color slides, neatly stored and catalogued, each with its own story. And some of the stories he has had published. for instance in the Spring 1978 issue Ontario Naturalist, show his humourous bent: "Finding the Forked Fungus Beetle," "Bringing a Cockroach to Dinner." and, "The Moth, Without Wings''. His old equipment is sturdy and depend- able. but he keeps it Simple. "I'm not a fellow who goes in for all this automatic stuff." Dr. Crich says. "People sometimes believe you have only to point the camera and if your equipment is ' suitably expensive, then beautiful photo- graphic images will emerge. It is not true. None of my cameras are automatic. It's not the equipment that makes photographs. Cameras and lenses only 'record what the photographer sees." And thanks to Dr. Crich many people can also see and appreciate the enormous but tiny world right under their noses. Old photo courtesy of Johnny Crich A million acres of history $23,358 proiect will teach us 'about our heroes BY SIMON CAMPBELL "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrap- ed him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room at the inn". These simple, spare words are the very essence of Christmas. Ac- cording to tradition, Jesus' birth took place 1,981 years ago - but most scholars now date the actual birth in the years 4 or 6 B.C. But whichever is the correct year, the annual celebration Of the birth has beconie -a: yearly gathering of peace and brotherhood in !the Land of Israel. And this Christmas of 1981, a record fifty thousand Israeli and foreign visitors - amongst them more than ten thousand Americans - are expected to attend, Standing in the fields which Surround this small town in the Judean Hills just south of Jerusalem, it is not hard to imagine that night two thousand years ago when the New Testament tells us, shepherds saw a bright star is the heavens, heralding the birth of Jesus. Sheep still safely graze 'here in the shade of ancient olive trees. Th*.pretty stone houses and spires of the town still rise Op the hills on the horizon. Bethlehem. in Hebrew. means 'House of Bread'. The town received its first pro- minence 3,500 years ago as the burial site of Rachel, wife of Hebrew Patriarch Jacob. The site of Rachel's Tomb has been a place of pilgrim- age ever since and ,the book of Genesis (Chap. 35, Verse 9) describes it almost in travelogue terms thus, "And Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.Jacob set a pillar on her ave: that is the pillar of . Rachel's grave unto this day". Five centur- ies later, also in Bethlehem. now a city blithe area allotted to the Tribe of Benjamin, David, Son of Jesse, was botn...the David who was later to slay Goliath, the Phillistine giant, and who was to become Israel's second king. In 1981, the' majority of Bethlehem's 32,000 inhabi- tans are Christians. Christ- nuts Eve Festivities com- mence on December 24 at 12:30 p.m.. when "His Beat- itude The Latin Patriarch" departs Jerusaleth for Beth- km. The cortege will stop 'first at Rachel's Tomb. and then continue into the town to Manger Square for the procession from the Church of St. Catherine to the underground cave Grotto of the Nativity, traditional site of Jesus' birth. At 4 p.m. Protestants gather just outside the town in "Shepherds' Fields" for their Christmas Eve service. At 8:30 p.m. excitement builds as the International Choir Festival commences in Manger Squrae, with choirs from Israel and around the world, plus the Israel Police Band, performing sacred musk'. and the Christmas carols. And at 11:45 p.m. comes the solemn yet joyful climait ‘• of the day, the Midnight Mass in the fourth century Basilica of the Nativity To avoid congestion, tour- ists and pilgrims wishing to spend Christmas in Bethle- hem should request tickets in advance from the Israel Government Tourist Offices throughout Israel. In addit- ion special bus transportat- ion is available for pilgrims, from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the Mediterra- nean resort town in Netanya. Bethlehem's streets, shops and houses will be especially decorated for the holiday, and cafes and restaurants - atitilhe post office, to enable pilgrims to haie their mill franked with special Christ- nnesiostmarkks -stay open all da rid tilobt #1, u$0., -Ickx t.