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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-08-17, Page 6Blyth’s Sammer Recreation Program’s leaders, kids and helpers all got together at Blyth Lions Park on Monday evening for a year-end barbecue, games and a sing-song as the final event of the season. The program, which attracted 85 kids, ends on Thursday. MVCA warns of program cuts, higher costs Continued from page 1 on local municipalities supporting the MVCA would likely rise by as much as 15 to 20 per cent “to start,” if the plan proceeds, while municipalities involved in capital expansion projects could see local costs at least double as the province opts out of programs. “This (proposed funding change) really restricts the deli­ very of program, and the ability of the municipality, and even of private individuals, in paying their share,’’ warned Dave Gower of GoderichTwp., chairmanof the MVCA’s Finance and Administra­ tion Advisory Board. “I can see in the future that our programs will be restricted, or reduced, or eliminated, because there is no way some of these municipalities can pick up a 50 per cent greater share of the costs.” In support, Leona Armstrong, Grey Twp.’s MVCA representa­ tive and vice-chairman of Mr. Gower’s committee, warned that the proposedchanges would in­ deed have a negative effect on many rural municipalities, and appealed to every reeve and council to write to the ministries involved protesting the report’s recommendations. In the end, all municipal repre­ sentatives present were urged to bring the matter before their various councils for a full discus­ sion as quickly as possible, since any replies to the report must be in by the end of the year for consideration. Several administrators present suggested thatthe report had been delayed until this time in order to cause as much confusion as possible at the municipal level, since this is an election year. “I can’t stress enough that you must put this matter (before your councils) as quickly as possible, and to pass on to them a sense of urgency in taking action,’’ Mr. Gower said. “There will doubtless be changes (to many councils) in November, and some of those newly-elected people may not fully understand the role of their conservation authorities.” Karla King vies to be Queen The 17th Annual Miss CNE Queen of the Fair Pageant kicks off the 20-day agricultural extrava­ ganza at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. On August 17, one of 118 lovely Ontario fair queens will step centre stage to be crowned with the coveted tiara. Among the contestants is Karla King of Brussels, Queen of the Brussels Fall Fair and Marcia Boak of RR 1, Dungannon, Queen of Dungannon Fair. At 10 a.m. enthusiastic contes­ tants face a preliminary competi­ tion at the Bandshell and then final judging will begin at 4 p.m. The pageant will highlight Australia, this year’s feature country at the Canadian National Exhibition and the audience will be entertained by the music of “The Mercey Broth­ ers’’ and “From Down Under’’. Billy Van, well known actor and comedian, will emcee the event. Distinguished judges are Mr. Glenn Cochrane (CFTO), Mrs. Lois Livingston (long-time pageant judge) and Mrs. Spring Rickard (Miss CNE 1980). Miss CNE, the crowning glory of the fair, must be as knowledgeable as she is beautiful. She must be well versed in the aims and objectives of her agricultural socie­ ty and must be a committed, active member of her community. Miss CNE Queen of the Fairswill be a popular personality around the Ex as she reigns over the world’s largest annual exhibition, in its 110th year. New shops would see better, safer, cooler conditions Continued from page 5 proper storage for the costumes in stock and proper electrical outlets and lighting. There will also be facilities for dyeing. Dyeing of cloth is a big part of the costume department’s work both for actually chang­ ing the colour of the material and making it look used. At present the dyeing must be done in the Memorial Hall kitchen, between the hours when the kitchen is being used to' feed theatre patrons and all the time bearing in mind the kitchen must be left spotless for its regular use. It also means dyeing is something that takes people out of the shop away from other work. A simple dyeing booth in the new shop will make work much more efficient. And to make work bearable in the heat of summer the new shops will be air conditioned. Back on the tour Marian Doucette, Festival Board president, takes Ms Wilson into the theatre itself where a changeover is taking place between the sets of the Saturday matinee performance of Fires in the Night and the evening’s performance of “Mail Order Bride”. Again the ingenuity neces­ sary to make the crowded quarters work is on display. While the railway car school room is dismantled piece by piece from “Fires”, the whole floor over the orchestra pit opens and the “garden” of Harold in “Bride” is liftefd up from the depths. Ms Doucette shows Ms Wilson the lack of backstage space that cramps the actions of the actors. To stage right (the left as the audience faces the stage) there is no space offstage at all. On stage right, the scene dock inthe 1980 addition that once seemed so large, is intricately organized bedlam as sets from four shows vie for space. Under the Festival’s expansion plans both these problems would be eliminated as a new wing will be built to the south of Memorial Hall joining it up with the former Bank of Commerce building at the corner of Queen and Dinsley which the theatre recently purchased. The second floor of the new wing would provide more space for sets and well as more dressing rooms for the actors. Although the actors of 14 years ago who had to dress in the downstairs kitchen and brave the weather to an outside staircase that clung to the back of the building would think today’s dressing rooms are wonderful, the Festival now is mounting large shows like “Fires” and the dressing rooms in the 1980 addition were built for nine people, not 22. The young boys in the cast of “Fires” use a downstairs office as their makeshift dressing room. The addition linking Memorial Hall to the bank building will have better box office facilities and a new art gallery on the main floor, at the rear of a courtyard facing out to the village’s main street. While all these improvements for the staff working at the Festival must be pointed out to people like Ms Wilson, there are improvements that any r^stival goer knows are badly needed. Any woman who has lined up for the ladies washroom knows that the larger washrooms in the new plans are needed. In addition the new building will provide access for handicapped persons to the lower hall as well as the main floor of the theatre. And for all who have squirmed their way through a performance on Memorial Hall’s wooden seats, the idea of padded seats brings a sigh of relief. Other improvements to the theatre itself like improved fire protection on stage and a small first aid area are less evident but needed additions to the hall that now hosts more than 40,000 people a year. Other things like improved rehearsal facilities on the second floor of the bank building and renovation of the upstairs of the municipal building to provide facilities for playwrights to work all are part of the theatre’s plans. For those who have seen the theatre grow from its first season in a sweltering Memorial Hall to the institution it is today, the plans may seem too huge to comprehend but Festival staff see them as overdue. And Katherine Kaszas, artistic director, says they’re much smaller than what a Toronto­ based consulting company recommended in a feasibility study. The company proposed $3.5 million in improvements which the Festival board and staff pared down to the present $1.8 million. TWICE OVER FROM THE BLYTHJESTIVAL A sincere thanks to the many generous donors who have contributed and pledged their support to the Blyth Festival's capital fund [as of August 15,1988]. Special thanks to Lewis and Valerie Pitman [Blyth], Mary Golbourne [Toronto], Don McCaffrey [Exeter], Carrie Salsbury [Clinton], Tim Chapman [Walton], Ann Coulter [Goderich], Karen Stewart [Blyth], Mabel Wheeler [Belgrave], August Strupp [Elmira], Art Steed [Clinton], Nancy McNee [London], Amber Underwood [Wingham], Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Metcalf [Goderich], Audrey Graham [Bayfield], Kinloss-Kairshea [Lucknow], Lynda Lentz rBlvth 1, Ron Walker [Blyth], Mrs. Ethel Poth [Bayfield], Dr. Jeanne Deinum [London], Akromold Ltd. [Goderich], Leda McAlister [Bayfield], Peter & Doris Nobes de Burgh [London], Gladys M. Cook [Listowel], Dorothy H. Locke [Highgate], Mary J. M. Henderson [Highgate], Hazel Dalrymple [Blyth], Douglas-& Sandra Odegard [Guelph], Annelies Schaerer [Stratford], Major G. Youmatoff [Bayfield], J. Wesley Heald [Guelph], James & Jean Hamilton [Willowdale], Harold & Helen Minielly [Kitchener], Crystal Young [Waterloo], James R. Simpson [Hamilton], Mrs. Jean Gandon [Toronto], Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Spring [Cambridge], Mrs. Margaret MacLeod [Lucknow], Miss Nora Miller [Chatham], Heather Ferguson [London], Dorothy Willmot [Willow­ dale], Judith McKibbon[Sarnia], Doug Davie [Harriston], Jean Whitby [Lucknow], D. Anne Rutledge [Goderich], Doris G. Batkin [Clinton], Rev. James P. O'Hagan [Pontiac, Mich.], Muriel Savage [Weston], Douglas & Jean Branch [Windsor], Harold & Janet Mahaffey [Cambridge] Donald & Ann Smith [Guelph], Mrs. Frances Clark [Auburn], George & Alva Baum [Guelph], Janet Stewart [London], Mr. & Mrs. Vai Vitols [London], David Dyck [Barrie], Mrs. Dorothy Worden [Stratford], Elmira Finnigan [Goderich], Miss Ruth L. Thompson [Lucknow], Larry & Sharon Graff [Waterloo], D. A. Millichamp [Toronto], Mrs. Margaret A. Pritchard [Goderich], Dorothy J. Reed [Goderich], Dr. Olive Ibberson [Clifford], H. Marie Smibert [Etobicoke], Kathleen Cruickshank [Wingham], Mrs. Edna Austin [Burford], Florence C. Paterson [Vancouver, B.C.], G.R. Kydd [London], Goderich Elevators Ltd. [Goderich], Gordon Beard [Mitchell], Wm. Ivan Henderson [Cambridge], Alex & Mary Morse [Stratford], Wm. & Donna Webster [Exeter], Ralph & Amy McCrea [Blyth], Don & Yvonne Reynolds [Kippen], Mrs. R. S. Taylor [Hanover], Mrs. Adrienne Noble [Gowanstown], Russ J . Wilson [Blyth], Edward Miller [Windsor], Doug R. Bundy [Goderich], Richard Allan Yake [London], Jim & Leona Armstrong [Brussels], S. MacPhail [London], Caley & June Hill [Goderich], Ann Coulter [Goderich], Dorothy Sottiaux [Londesboro], Raymond & Margarat Wilhelm [Stratford], F. Evelyn Olde [Clinton], P. Lynn MacDonald [London], Mrs. Alison McQuay [Cambridge], Helen M. Videan [Goderich], Ken & Judy Shortreed [Walton], Shirley E. Vincent [Blyth], Joel Harris [Blyth], A. Isobel Monteith [Stratford], A. Brock Monteith [Stratford], Mrs. L. L. Sokuitne [Kitchener], Mrs.Selma Reichert [Waterloo], Lyall Smith [Sarnia], Margaret Wainman [Cambridge], Adrian & Toni Vos [Blyth], Katherine Burnief London], Robert H. Peck [Blyth], Murray & Audrey Lang [Islington], Douglas Rathburn [Wingham], Ray & Margaret Bennett [Wingham], Ross & Barbara Anderson [Belgrave], Mrs. Alice Ball [Clinton], Mrs. J. A. Watson [Etobicoke], James & Janet Lawrie[Blyth], Joan Nasby [Burlington], Malcolm J. Armstrong [Kitchener], Marian Doucette [Clinton], Joe & Linda Wooden [Grand Bend], Angus Sinclair [Stratford], Jennifer Hill [Goderich], Sheila Richards [Brussels], Ruth McDiarmid [Hamilton], Margaret E. Davidson [London], Howard Simpson [Guelph], Mrs. Ruth Morgan [London], Susan Chan [Goderich], Helen Gowing [Blyth], Ila Mathers [Exeter], Gerald & Dorothy Cruickshank [Wingham], Norma Hazlitt [Goderich], The Murray Group Ltd. [Moorefield], W. Frank Weston [London], Mrs. Jean Daney[Oshawa], Gerard Wagter [Morpeth], Joan Marshall [London], June Finlay [Ancaster], Larry Partridge [Monkton], Mr. & Mrs. John W. Wallace [London], Gayle & Pat ^Waters [Bayfield], Paul Atkinson [Elmira], A.C. Falconer [Kitchener], Dr. Jack Leitch [Toronto], John Critchley [London], Peter & Carrie Salsbury [Clinton], Daniel & Jean Duff [Cambridge], Doris I. Murray [Stratford], Miss Isabel L. Cressman [Kitchener], Harold & Mary MarshalKClearwaterl. lim & Pat Barnes]Brussels], William R. Farnell [Wingham], Ross & Hajra Wilson [Cambridge], Katherine Kaszas [Blyth], Wayne & Deb Caldwell [Goderich], Carol & Jerry McDonnell [Blyth]. EVERY DONOR WILL BE RECOGNIZED IN A PERMANENT LOBBY DISPLAY