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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1978-07-05, Page 15Central east-west section looking north A study of the existing section dicates the relative positions of major building volumes. in- the Part of the renovation study for the Blyth Memorial Hall ISIZZA IT 'RACE DIAL 565-2166 MAIN STREET BAYFIELD, ONTARIO NOW OPEN PIZZAS SUBS Best of. Luck to the Blyth Summer Festival RAN DVIEW LUNCH Located at the South end of Blyth, at the corner of Highway 4 and County Road 25. WELCOME to the BLYTH SUMMER FESTIVAL. from the iqtf! . Jun HOTEL. • Fully LitellSeCl. Across the street from Blyth Memorial Hall Blyth, Ont. 523-9381 THE BLYTH SUMMER FESTIVAL ISSUE, JULY 5, 1978 — 3 Built in 1920 Memorial Hall hosted travelling shows The following excerpt is from The Blyth Centennial issue of July 20,. 1977. The Blyth Memorial Hall is building that the people of Blyth have refused to have taken away from them and so the building has stoat since 1920. Erected as a memorial to veterans who fought in the First World-War, the Hall has served many purposes. When first built. it was used mostly as a concert hall for vaudeville shows and touring plays. Dances and other activities were held in the base- ment. A Firemen's Dance held once a year was the biggest event. One troupe that used to perform there was called the Jimmy Faz troupe. This man used to play many different parts all by himself. He came to the hall shortly after it was built. That concert was always held in connection with the fall fair. Mrs. Albert Coultes who lives at R.R:1, Belgrave remembers the times when the troupe used to come to myth and she said the troupe was still corning when her oldest boy was big enough to go to the fair. The Jimmy Fax troupe stopped coming to Blyth about 25 or 30 years ago. It was something everybody looked forward to, Mrs. Coultes said. Quite a few variety concerts were held in the upstairs of the Memorial Hall and at that time a lot of Irish-Scottish concerts were held. In 1973 the Memorial Hall was in danger of being torn down and all because of the theatre upstairs. In the 1920's the stage which was 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep was the most modern and the largest around and touring shows played to full houses in the auditorium. It, had comfortable seats and a sloping floor to provide a good view for the entire audience and the acoustics were also good. But when television came to the fore, in the 1950's live theatre and the Memorial Hall auditorium itself were forgotten about. The building fell into a state of disrepair. The upper floor of the building was mostly forgotten about:, as dances and community activities were, held in the lower floor. In the 1970's plans were put into action for the revitilization of the bulding. Helen Gowing, a local women's wear shop. owner and president of the Blyth Board of Trade initiated a meeting with the local recreation committee which had authority over the. 'building. It was decided to paint the hall and put it back into use. Donations were needed to buy the, supplies. Volunteers climbed ladders and scrubbed woodwork and -by early September the building was in much better shape. A variety night and fashion show sponsored by the Board of Trade was held in the building in 1972. Though it was the first event held there in a long time, it Was not necessarily a good omen. The local fire chief had inspected, the building- and declared the fire escapes not up to Standards and Said that he would have to forbid its use Until new fire escapes Were put in. The need for Mete Motley was the problem here, but not to be outdone the supporters of the building took the problem to the town council who agreed to provide the money for the new tire escapes. Before the new fire escapes had even been installed however, a rumor spread that the wiring in the building was poor and that it might cost as much as $2000 to get it fixed, but an Ontario Hydro Inspector checked it out and found that only minor repairs were necessary, probably at a cost of $200. That • problem was solved then, but another arose to take its place. A local councillor had noticed a sag in the roof and recommended that it be checked out for safety purposes before any more money was spent. An engineer checked it out and said that the roof was below the standards necessary to support snow loads, He also said that the theatre should not be used until repairs had been made to the roof. although the lower portion of the hall could still be used. He promised the full report with recommendations the next month, The engineer made this promise in the early spring. The report still wasn't in by August but finally the councillors got him to a meeting and he suggested areas that might cause problems and recommended that they be checked' before renovations were made. That engineer's report was received in September but now a few councillors were having sonic doubts about the project. Now the cost was worrying them. One councillor suggested, -tear the thing down'' and another thought that perhaps council shouldn't put so much money into an .old building. A coupon was put in the local newspaper asking readers their opinion on whether the Memorial. Hall should be torn down or left standing and two groups came to. its defence.- One group was made up of citizens who had wanted the building renovated because they thought they had a good enter- tainment facility and wanted it put back into use. The second group felt that as a memorial to the war veterans, the building should not be destroyed. When the coupons from the newspapers had been returned they showed that only one person W;IS •voting for tearing the hall down and that came after a September council meeting when- council was making its decision. A September council meeting was held and the engineer's report came in recommending complete removal of the present roof and its replacing with a strengthened new roof and truss system. It recommended minor strengthening of the floor to the total stage and auditorium. The roof cost $50,000 and. Councillors approved money to fix the, building. Only $10,000 came from village coffers with the rest coming from grants from senior governments. During the winter of 1975-76 further renovations were made by the Blyth Centre for the Arts under a Local Initiatives Project grant and with support from local residents, Blyth council and various charitable organization. A silver machine gun which sits outside the hall is representative of when soldiers used to bring home bootys of such war sou ve n ir s. Supporters of the Memorial Hall have regained their building and this year, the Blyth Summer Festival is again putting it to good use.