Village Squire, 1976-11, Page 6time, moves were beginning to formalize the group into the
Exeter and District Heritage Foundation.
The stiff uIation of the L.I.P. grant was that it must begin by
January ?' and so :; crew was hired and work began inside the
building
It wa:,n't the way they really wanted to do things, Mrs.
Monteith recalls. They wanted to first fix up the outside of the
building because that's the part that people would see and
they could see that the building was indeed beautiful. But in
winter and with no money except the grant that covered only
labour costs, they began work inside the building, upstairs in
the old community hall and in the old council chambers. They
worked at stripping paint off the old woodwork and taking
down the old false ceiling in the upstairs hall. They worked,
that is until the stop work order arrived. In February the
group received a letter telling it council wanted all work on
the building stopped until proper complete plans were given
to show what would be done. The problem was if the workmen
didn't continue to work, the L.I.P. grant would be lost. There
wasn't much time to sit around and debate. The group
decided to go a' d with work despite the letter.
About this time the local newspaper published a ballot in
the paper which people could send in giving their opinions on
whether or not the hall should be saved. The results showed
112 in favour of saving the hall, 35 against.
On March 18, however, another stop work order was
received from council and on March 24 the building inspector
said he would not issue a building permit for the project.
Eventually, a solution was worked out which saw the
Foundation officially formed and the building given to the
Foundation and the land on which it sat leased to the group
for one dollar a year for 10 years.
Meanwhile the group had asked officials from the Ontario
Heritage Foundation to come up and look at the building
some time earlier and had received a good deal of support
after the officials had inspected the building and gone over
the group's report. So Mr. Hill was hired for the next step,
preparing a feasibility study which was needed in order to
apply for a Heritage grant. Such studies and grants take a
while, though and in the meantime money was needed.
Events such as a garage sale, two dances including one with
Guy Lombardo, an arts and crafts show, 'a raffle on a
homemade quilt and a breakfast with radio personality Bill
Brady were held. A canvass was made of main street
merchants and an appeal sent out in the form of a brochure.
In all, about $17,000 was raised locally. Local fund raising has
been hampered though by the fact the Exeter community is in
the midst of building a new arena and a lot of money is
required there.
Recently word has been received verbally that the Ontario
Heritage Foundation has approved a grant of $47,100 for
restoration work. The problem is that this grant is conditional
on a matching amount being raised locally. There is still a lot
of work ahead for the would-be restorers.
But now, the attitude after the trials and tribulations of the
past two years seems totally positive. "I hope we don't sound
too negative," Mrs. Monteith says after telling the
frustrating story to date. Despite the problems, she says, the
group isn't bitter.
After the L.I.P. project, the group now has something to
show for its work. The woodwork in the upstairs hall has been
cleaned down to bare pine wood and the arched ceiling
restored. A fire escape was installed and a kitchen is in the
works. The kitchen must still be finished and the auditorium
redecorated but already several groups have indicated they
want to rent the room. It will hold functions of up to 150
persons.
Downstairs the building has one major tenant left over from
the old days in the Exeter Police Department although the
town offices and fire department have been moved to other
quarters in the last few years. The police too have complained
from time to time about their quarters.
The old fire hall will, they hope, become a small retail
4, Village Squire/November 1976
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