Village Squire, 1979-09, Page 28PEOPLE
Johnny Nielson may only be 18 but he's
already got a lot of push. The Seaforth high
school student returned recently from a
trip to England and France with the
Canadian Junior Track and Field team and
summed up his experience in four words:
"I think it's great." The Seaforth youth
was one of two shot put specialists with the
Canadian team taking part in a meet at La
Pommeray, France against the French
team. He finished second although he was
disappointed in his technique and his
throw was more than a foot less than his
throw at the Canadian Junior trials in
Vancouver earlier where he placed first.
All of which proves that if you have a lot of
push you can go a long way.
No one can accuse Chris Andreae of
crass commercialism when it comes to
writing books. His latest effort which he
hopes to have published soon is called A
Historical Railway and Canal Atlas of
Canada. It follows another book called A
Railway Atlas of Southwestern Ontario.
The latest book has taken him two years of
research and will be a fairly complete study
of early travel in Canada. He's written the
text and has worked on the maps though he
hopes to have a professional cartographer
do the final work on the maps. A book of
the type he's put together is expensive to
produce and he expects to sell copies at
about $45 each but that won't begin to
cover expences. He expects to have about
2000 copies published. When not doing his
writing, Chris is assistant curator of the
Lambton Heritage Museum.
History of a more familiar kind is the
basis of a book published by Gorrie
resident Elmer Farrish recently. The
79 -year-old writer produced a 153 page
book called Then and Now which he wrote
mostly from memory and which deals with
such things as school concerts and fairs
and mother's baking. If a man has to live to
be able to write he certainly has the
experience. He's travelled to 52 countries
on all the continents. He got his first
camera at 18 and has amassed a collection
of 5000-6000 slides and snapshots over the
years. He's also interested in history
including his own family's history. Among
his proud possessions is a copy of the boat
ticket that brought the Farrish family to
Canada from Scotland in 1851.
In his book The Vengeance of the Black
Donnellys, pulp writer Thomas P. Kelley
told of the legends of how Lucan's
Donnelly family have wrecked vengeance
on those who murdered them. Whether or
not Kelley's stories are factual it's for sure
that the murderers who sneaked into their
farm house, killed the family and burned
the bodies didn't put the family to rest.
Today the Black Donnellys are more
famous than in the days when they
terrorized the Lucan area. They have been
the subject of several books, songs and
plays. The Peter Colley version of The
Donnellys which played at Theatre London
several years ago still holds the box office
record at that theatre. James Reaney of
London has written a whole trilogy of plays
about the legend. And when the Death of
the Donnellys a co -production of Theatre
Passe Muraille and the Blyth Summer
Festival was scheduled to end the season at
Blyth this summer it was quickly shown
that interest in the Donnelly Legend has far
from run its course. Every ticket for the two
week run was sold before the opening
although it was not part of the subscription
program for the theatre. The show was
held over for a third week and at press time
that too was having brisk sales.
Many a man dedicated his life to the
railway in this country especially in the
long gone days when the twin bands of
steel rivalled the sea for fascination to
those who wanted more than a permanent
home. But in modern times few persons
have showed more dedication to railroads
than Elizabeth Willmot. She spent years
criss-crossing the country photographing
old railway stations for her book Meet Me
At The Station published a couple of years
ago. Now she has a new book from Gage
called "Faces and Places Along the
Railway" which includes photographs of
the interiors or exteriors of railway stations
in Clinton, Blyth, Wingham, Seaforth and
Londesborough and many other tidbits of
information for those in love with the rails.
•)
OpaationLikAaik
The sink cupboard in
your kitchen is the most
dangerous place for your
cleaning supplies; keep them
out of the reach of toddlers.
Never store poisonous. caus-
tic or inflammable substan-
ces in such containers as
pop bottles or jam jars.
DARFiNq STudio
ART GALLERY
For portraits, landscapes, etc.
Oils, Acrylics, Pastels,
Watercolours, Ink Sketches.
WROXETER
[1 block west of main intersection]
HOURS:
Tues. -Sat. 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Other times by chance or appointment.
Phone 335-6362
26 Village squire, September 1979