HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-06-28, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2012.Brussels murals invigorate downtown core
The roof over the upstairs hall at
the Blyth and District Community
Centre will have to wait another few
years to be replaced due to some
unforseen expenses resulting from
the problem’s analysis.
The project, which was budgeted
for this year, was going to be partly
funded through a Trillium grant.
The roof is the original that was
built in 1976 and is currently leaking
into the hall. Township staff
assumed that the roof would need to
be replaced to fix the leaks, but upon
inspection by Ontario Roof
Consultants and Associates, the roof
could last for several more years if
some maintenance is performed on
it instead of a replacement.
A total of $110,000 was budgeted
for the replacement of the roof;
$60,000 from North Huron and
$50,000 from the Trillium
Foundation grant.
Unfortunately, due to the mainte-
nance that would be necessary
before the roof could be replaced,
the project is going to run over budg-
et according to Director of
Recreation and Facilities for North
Huron Pat Newson.
In her report, Newson stated that
the roof repair would cost $126,756
to $133,822.50, meaning the project
would be anywhere from 18 to 20
per cent over the budgeted cost.
The roof renovations, however,
would cost $37,450, a cost that
would be entirely covered by the
Trillium Grant according to Director
of Finance Donna White.
“We could extend the life of the
roof with these repairs,” Newson
said. “This is a flagship facility for
the municipality, so we hope that we
can see it used for many more
years.”
Councillor James Campbell was
concerned that the municipality
might not get another grant when it
came time to replace the roof, how-
ever he was told that it isn’t often the
municipality isn’t benefitting from
one or more Trillium grants.
Council decided to repair the roof,
returning any unused portions of the
Trillium grant to the Trillium foun-
dation and putting the township’s
$60,000 into reserves.
Many of the repairs that are neces-
sary are due to some parts of the roof
being removed when an Heating,
Ventilation and Air Conditioning
(HVAC) system was installed in
1997.
The system required that sections
of the longitudinal bottom chord was
missing.
Newson stated, when asked by
Campbell, this repair would stop all
the current leaks in the roof.
The project to repair the roof was
put on hold in 2011 due to unforseen
problems with the roof at the
Wingham’s Children Centre which
required an immediate roof replace-
ment.
Residents of Brussels may havenoticed a bit of a new look to the oldExport Packers building on the vil-lage’s main street.Thanks to the Brussels Buildgroup and Huron East EconomicDevelopment Officer Jan Hawley,
the windows of the building, which
has sat vacant for decades, are now
adorned with murals depicting
“Then and Now” scenes from
around Brussels.
The scenes show historic pictures
of the Brussels main street, among
other scenes and pictures from the
current day are taken from the exact
same angle to show just how much
things have changed over the
decades.
Hawley said the idea came to her
in her sleep, so she decided to go
with it. Hawley and her crew worked
throughout the heat wave of last
week to put the pictures up and the
result already has people talking
around the village.
She says the concept came out of
funding she received through the
Huron Economic Development
Matters partnership through the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs, the County
of Huron and the Huron Business
Development Corporation. Hawley
received $10,000 last year to be split
between Seaforth and Brussels.
Hawley says there are several
properties on the main street in
Brussels that could use a “refresh”
which has been one of her top prior-
ities over the past few years.
With the Brussels Farmers’ Market
in full swing, Hawley wanted to
move on to some of those properties
and the Export Packers building was
one of her first projects.
Hawley said she had been in con-
tact with the owners and discussed
the concept with them and they were
supportive in what she wanted to do.The idea, Hawley said, behind thebuilding is to renovate it to accom-modate apartments and businesses,however, the owners suffered a bit ofa setback in recent years and thoserenovations have had to be put onhold.Hawley, however, was stuck withwhat she could do to refresh the
downtown area’s look without
breaking the economic development
department’s budget and the murals
were what she came up with.
Now that the murals have been
officially placed, Hawley says they
look “stunning” and that enthusiasm,
she says, has been shared by those in
the village.
“I’m really pleased with how they
turned out,” Hawley said. “The peo-
ple of Brussels are happy. They are
proud of this.”
The pictures Hawley has used
have been triple-developed, so they
have an interesting texture to them,
she says, where they look similar to
the pictures taken decades ago. They
have a real “Norman Rockwell” feel
to them, she says, which makes them
even more interesting to passers-by.
With seven pictures already up,
Hawley still has two windows she
hopes to incorporate into the project
as well. This, she says, is where she
will lean on the work that came as a
result of the visit from students of
the University of Waterloo and the
two walking trails they propose to
course through the village.
She is hoping to incorporate maps
of the walking trails into the mural
system in hopes of encouraging peo-
ple to take advantage of the walking
trails.
Continued from page 16
thing to do at the time.
The farmer’s barn had burned to
the ground and he needed a place to
store pigs and the fall harvest and he
asked Richmond if he would be
interested in selling it, which he did.
Both Richmond and Nesbit say
they’re excited about this weekend’s
SS1 Morris reunion at the Blyth
Lions Park from 2 to 4 p.m. He says
it will give those in attendance a
chance to catch up and reminisce.
Richmond says he can still remem-
ber the teachers even though it was
over 50 years ago now. One teacher,
however, would be a little tough to
forget.
“Well the first three grades were
taught by Beth Plunkett from
Auburn,” Richmond said, “and the
last five were taught by Jane
Griffiths, who’s now my mother-in-
law.”
The reunion will feature plenty of
pictures to mull over and even a
commemorative book compiled by
several members of the committee
and printed by Blyth Printing.
Richmond says the event hasn’t
featured a pre-registration, but that
so far well over 150 people have
expressed interest in coming, so
he and the organizers are expecting
a good crowd on Saturday in
Blyth.
Arena roof repairs to wait
Brussels then and now
The Brussels Build group, along with Huron East Economic Development Officer Jan Hawley,
spearheaded a project where murals depicting scenes from decades ago, coupled with pic-
tures of how the area looks now, have been placed in the former Export Packers building on
the village’s main street. The murals have only been in place for a week, but Hawley says they
already have people excited. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Walk offers glimpse
of life 50 years ago
Laura Bowers graduated from the
University of Guelph on June 14,
2012 with an Honours Bachelor of
Science Degree in Animal Biology.
Laura is the daughter of Steve and
Rita Bowers of R.R. #2 Brussels.
Congratulations Laura,
we are very proud of you.
Love: Dad, Mom,
Greg and Gavin
Greg Bowers graduated from the
University of Waterloo on June 16,
2012 with an Honours Bachelor of
Applied Science Degree in
Mechanical Engineering - Co-opera-
tive Program. Greg is the son of Steve
and Rita Bowers of R.R. #2 Brussels.
Congratulations Greg,
we are very proud of you.
Love: Mom, Dad, Laura and Gavin
Graduation
Featuring
Birds of Prey
and The Silly
People
Mini Parade
at 9:45 am
Fun for kids
of all ages,
all activities
free of
charge
CARNIVAL
The
Saturday, June 30, 2012
10 am - 3 pm
Memorial Arena, McDonald St., Goderich
goderichchildrensfestival@yahoo.com
or Tourism Goderich at 519-524-6600 or find us on Facebook
Queens
You are cordially invited to attend the
11th Annual
Goderich Children’s Festival
Daughter of Paul & Joyce Johnston of
Bluevale received her Bachelor of Educa-
tion degree from Nipissing University of
North Bay. She achieved a Bachelor of
Applied Science Degree in Child Youth
Family Relations from Guelph University
as well as a diploma in Early Childhood
Education. Congratulations Jill,
we are very proud of you.
Love, Mom, Dad, Thomas, Matt,
Grandma Bessie & Grandpa Ken Johnston,
and Grandma Gert Brisbin.
Jill Johnston
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
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