Village Squire, 1976-11, Page 38begun. Within a few more weeks,
construction of the new building commenc-
ed. By Dec. I , there will likely be young
hockey players and figure skaters cutting
ice in the new Blyth arena.
The story of the two villages success is
counterpointed by the problems some
communities many times their size have
had. In Goderich, where the decision was
made to simply replace the old roof with a
new one, the fundraising task seemed
small by comparison. The amount needed
was similar but there were thousands of
more people to share the burden. Yet while
the money flowed into the coffers of the
village rebuilding committees, Goderich
had to struggle for every penny. Similarly,
the money didn't come easy in Wingham
either or in Seaforth where arena
improvements were planned and there
were worries that local donations were not
going to be high enough to match the funds
promised by Wintario on a matching basis.
But the irony of the whole arena closing
affair, is that in many ways Bette
Stephenson was doing a favour to the
smaller communities. Faced with hardship
forced on thern by government edict, many
of the little communities reacted with the
kind of community spirit they had not seen
in years. Hundreds of people walked
thousands of miles in walkathons. They
held dances and suppers and raffles. In
Teeswater it was volunteers who worked
hours to tear down the old arena and the
subsequent sale of salvage gave them
$15,000 toward the new building (by
contrast Goderich hired a contractor to take
Within a few weeks after the engineer's report finding this old Bhth arena unsafe was
received, the building had been taken down and work was beginning on the new area. By the
end of November local iyoungsters will likely be playing (hockey in the new building.
down the old roof at considerable expence
and he kept the salvage.)
So rather than being a threat to the
existence of the little villages, the closure
notices really did a lot to put fighting spirit
back into them. In years to come not only
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36, Village Squire/November 1976
may these little towns have new or
renovated arenas. but they may have
something much more valuable; a sense of
pride in the fact that like their pioneer
forefathers, they can work together to get
things done in their communities.
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Phone 524-7920
Ui
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