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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1979-05-09, Page 4FARMERS get ready WE HAVE *Seed Grain •Pioneer Seed Corn •Funks Seed Corn •White Bean Seed Complete line of chemicals for all your crops •Bulk Fertilizer Blendi you need- *Spreaders Equipment to rent *Anhydrous Ammonia Equipment to rent or we will apply . We can deliver bulk to your farm -- spreading available too. ARTHUR HINZ & Sons Ltd. R. R. 2 Monkton 347-2636 For all your planting needs lEiVEAu4sskt.s 4 i3iiit'; • Visitors feted (Continued from Page I) families were also at the reception, These included. Rene Delbergue and wifej Julien Delbergue and his wife of RR 3, Auburn; Elie Bury of Egmondville and his wife; Rene Vercruysen's of RR 2, Auburn, his wife and a friend; Henry Poets; and Rene Vercruy- sen's mother. The men came over here because their Brussels is celebrating its 1000th anniver- sary and they wanted to associate Brussels, Ontario with the celebrations. Mr. De Vos said they had looked on the map and found three places in the world named Brussels, one in Ontario, one in Michigan and one in 'quth Africa, but picked Brussels Ontario be ause, "Canada is much nearer to our hearts,than any other country in overseas." He joked that they had tried to find out about Brussels, Ontario but when they found out it was discovered by William Ainley it left them very much confused because William Ainley came from Yorkshire. He said Mayor Van Haelteren of Brussels had asked them to prepare a linking between Brussels and Brussels and that perhaps Brussels, Ontario could write and say they agreed to it. He even proposed that perhaps Brussels, Ontario could learn a little French. REEVE RECORDED Mr. Valet recorded the singing of "0 Canada" and the Belgian national anthem by the Belgian guests. He also recorded Reeve Krauter's speech and had Rene Delbergue translate it into French. Mr. De Vos told the people at the reception a little about Brussels, the capital city of Belgium, a country which has 10 million people. Brussels itself has a popu- lation of 1 million. Sixty per cent of the people are Flemish speaking while 40 per cent are French speaking. Brussels has been the capital of Belgium for 21 years and is also the capital of Western Europe's common market countries - France, Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Den- mark. It has the most important diplomatic representation with the greatest number of ambassadors. Each country has three ambassadors in Brussels, one for Belgium, one for the Common Market, one for Europe and one for NATO which has its head- quarters in Belgium. The buildings are very old in Brussels, Mr. De Vos said. "We have churches, cathedrals and monuments that are about 600 years old. For the 1000th anniversary celebration, Brussels, Belgium will be holding exhib- itions, dances and concerts throughout the year. The two radio men had learned something about Brussels, Ontario from the Centennial edition of the Brussels Post so were not particularly surprised by its small size. TALK SHOW HOST At the radio station, Pierre is the news editor where he works from six o'clock in the morning until mid-day. Gerrard Valet is what we would call a talk show host. The two men were here to record for a radio program. Mr. De Vos said that once a year they give a prize to the best thing produced by French radio and so they wanted to record a program in French. That was why they had asked for some French- speaking interpreters. He said if their program wins a prize it would probably be transmitted to French-Canadian radio, French radio; Swiss radio, and Belgian radio. Mr. De Vos had been to Canada before in 1977 when he came to English speaking television in Montreal and did a program with Barbara Frum on As It Happens on Quebec's controversial Bill 101. He was against it. He also said that Gerrard Valet had been in Canada several times and had made a film at that time for which he won a prize. He also did one of the first films on China and this was put on the Canadian network. The two men were given many gifts to take back to their homeland they left, including a plaque from the village of Brussels, Ontario to take back to the mayor of Brussels, Belgium. They were presented with a Canadian flag from the Brussels Legion; a plaque with the words "Brussels, Ontario's prettiest village" on it from the Optimists; a business crest mounted on a plaque from the Brussels Business Associ- ation, some Lions pins and maps of the Lions District in Ontario; and they even received a photo album as a gift from disc jockey Clifford Stevens. WI SILVER SPOON Mrs. De Vos received a maple leaf pin from the village and a silver spoon with the words Brussels, Ontario on it from Dorothy Steffler who presented it on behalf of the local Women's Institute. The Belgians were given a tour of the village and to the Old Mill in Blyth by Henry Exel, Malcolm Jacobs, George Cousins and interpreter George Langlois on Thursday. Other councillors were unable to attend. One of the first stops on the tour was the Brussels Public School where French teacher Lois Annaneck and some of the children sang a French song for Gerrard Valet to record and Niihere the children got to ask Mr. De Vos some questions'about Belgium. Among other things he told the children that while the area around Brussels, Ontario was mainly agricultural land, Brussels, Belgium was mainly industrial. He said that there were less sports over there and that there should be much more. When asked if they had very many snowstorms he said, "Nothing" compared to Canada." He added that it snows about one or two weeks of the year over there. The sights the group saw in Brussels included the cemetery where they saw the tombstone of William Ainley, founder of Brussels; the Maitland Dam, Mait-side Orchards and the Stockyards. It wasn't a very nice day for sightseeing as it poured rain all day and the windows of the van continually fogged up but Mr. De Vos concluded that this type of weather was a lot like Belgium's. 10 OR 15 COWS • Some of his impressions about the lifferences in our country and theirs were that they have small farms all over the country but buildings are closer together and agriculture was quite different. He said their farms usually had about 10 or 15 cows at the most, They also have chickens and grow their own vegetables and over there it's mostly mixed farming. On the average farms are about 30 acres in size while the largest farm would have about 100 acres. Comparing area size he. said Lake Huron was bigger than all of Belgium and that France was about 20 times the size of Belgium. Mr. Valet said that Canada would , be about 300 times the size of Belgium. Mrs. De Vos said Belgians import their BY DEBBIE RANNEY While they were in Brus- sels last week two Belgian radio reporters Pierre de Vos and Gerrard Valet probably had a lot of fun but they were here on a working missions as well and that mission was to get a radio program. So as part of that program they interviewed two former Belgian residents who speak French--Rene Delbergue of R. R. #3, Auburn and Elie Bury of Egmondville. Rene Delbergue told Mr. Valet about the reasons his family had emigrated to Canada one of which was because the war had mixed things up. Rene's family and Elie Bury's family emigrated here together. He said that most Belgians had settled around the Delhi and Tilsonburg areas but they didn't have that much money to invest in a tobacco farm. He told Mr. Valet they had lived around the Brussels area land then later to auburn. He and his father have about 500 acres with about 130-140 diary cows. When Mr. Valet wanted to know why Rene's wife wor- ked at the Goderich hospital since he thought there would be enough work at home for a farm wife, Rene explained that everything is pretty well automated here. When asked if he had any regrets, Rene replied that he had been too young to have any regrets but added that when he gets taling to Belgium on his CB radio he always has a feeling for Belgium. Rene asked Mr. valet why CB radios were not licensed in Belgium and was told that ham radio operators were licensed and,they were afraid of a confrontation if they licensed both Mr. Valet added that CB will eventually become licensed because it is clothes and clothes and food are very expensive. She said that two pounds of really good steak would cost about $50. Also on the tour they went to see one of the French-speaking interpreters Rene Delbergue of RR 3, Auburn who was at the reception Wednesday night. (See additional story inside.) All in all it was a beneficial visit for both the visitors who got to know a little something about their sister in Canada and for Brussels, Ontario which did a good job of promoting international relations. the neighbours pitched in and collected $1,500 for them and they bought a new house. At that time Mr. Bury wanted to go back to. Belgium but his wife didn't. They later bought a farm in Hullett Township. They are now living in Egmondville. Working with People Who Are Helping Themselves. OXFAM supports small, sell•help pro. jects in developing communities around the world. OXFAM projects stress sell• reliance and seek maximum participation by the local population. OXFAM is more than a charity. It is a movement lor social lustice. YOUR CONTRIBUTION CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE OXFAM-CANADA BOX 18,000 TORONTO, OTTAWA, HALIFAX, ST. JOHN'S BOX 12,000 WINNIPEG, REGINA, CALGARY, VANCOUVER HERE IS MY DONATION S FOR YOUR WORK. NAME ADDRESS ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE. NOTICE WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 is Clean-Up Day and the village truck will pick up any unwanted garbage that the garbage truck does not normally pick up Village of Brustel4 Young's Variety Fresh Baking for Morn for Mother's Day Pies, cakes, donuts, bread Brussels Phone' 887-6224 Auburn, Egmondville men were interpreters realized that people can talk all over the world with CB radios. The two radio men also wanted to go to Rene's place to see if they cold tape any of the Belgium CBers coming in but Rene couldn't get any response they day the two men were there although he did have some previously recorded tapes. When asked about prob- lems in Canada, Rene ex- plained that there is an unemployment problem. But he also told the reporters if you want to work in Canada there's work to be found-- maybe not for what a person trained as but that a person could get a lower job and work his way up. He-also told Mr. V alet that he had been talking to a cousin of his in ,-;elgium and heard that there was quite a bit of unemployment in Bel- gium too. Mr: Valet agreed. Mr. Bury told the radio reporters that his family had moved here because they heard about Canada on the radio that things were really god here. He said after they got here they brought a farm and a few years after that the house burnt down. A bunch of