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Townsman, 1991-09, Page 23P@© GD @ Walkerton musician Richard Knechtel is celebrating his ninth major release in his 21 -year career with his new album drifting dreams. The recording is his first to be released on compact disc as well as cassette tape and included 10 original compositions of his own. Knechtel gives praise to his back-up musicians on the album. "There's some excep- tional instrumental work on this pro- ject and as a unit, I think we've created a unique, refreshing sound to compliment the songs." Fellow Walkertonian Bill McWa- ters is featured on percussion and background vocals. Londoners Peter Robinson on violin and David Zdriluk on bass add to the sound. The album is produced by veteran Canadi- an performer/radio host David Essig. At a time of year when most people are buckling back down to work, Wingham native Doug Wood is taking a well-deserved break from work. Wood recently returned to his hometown after placing l l th in his specialty of pole-vaulting at the world championships in Tokyo. The perfor- mance also helped him qualify to take part in the Olympic Games next sum- mer. Now, he says, he's looking for- ward to taking a couple of months off before beginning training in Novem- ber for the indoor track and field sca- son. Those meets, and the appearance fees they pay to athletes, will help him keep money coming in for training. Rigorous training schedules keep him from having a job to supplement the $550 a month athletes get from the government to help them keep train- ing. It's hard enough to keep up his studies at York University and his busy training schedule. He accepts the sacrifices as part of the price to pay for the experience of competing at an international level feeling he'll regret it later if he doesn't follow his dreams now. Clinton writer Alice Munro contin- ues to garner awards for her most recent book Friends of My Youth, the Richard Knechtel: new album released. most recent being the regional nomi- nation for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Munro won the nomination for the Canada and Caribbean region. Other regions are Africa, Eurasia and Southeast Asia, and South Pacific. The winner of the overall Common- wealth Writers Prize will be announced in Toronto in November. Regional winners get the equivalent of $960 while the overall prize winner gets $19,000. Earlier this year Munro won the Trillium Book Award. At that time she said she was "particularly proud of the Ontario award because (her book) was in competition with various styles" from poetry to history, politi- cal science to drama and literary anal- ysis. Her publisher, McClelland and Stewart, also received $2000 to help promote the book. The Commonwealth Prize would be her third major award recently. She had received a $50,000 Canada Coun- cil prize for a lifetime of contribuuon to writing. But the three -time Governor Gen- eral's Award winner missed out on a fourth such award when first-time Toronto author Nino Ricci won for his book Lives of the Saints. But even Ricci admitted he may have won because the jurors thought it was time for someone else to get a chance against the Huron -county author who is known as one of the world's top short -story writers. The party to celebrate Dick Kloss' birthday was a little Iatc this year hut who can blame him. Mr. Kloss waited until Sept. 7 to mark his 50th birth- day, throwing a party at the Grand Bend Cruising Club. The Hensall man was a little tired on his actual birthday on Aug. 26, you see. He had just fin- ished swimming across Lake Huron from Port Sanilac, Michigan to Pinery Provincial Park south of Grand Bend. He became only the second person ever to swim Lake Huron (the other being the incredible Vicki Keith) after a year of training. Members of the team that helped the swimmer accom- plish his feat were on hand for the party, remembering the special and often nerve-wracking times that took place during the 36 -hour swim. He had expected to complete the 42 mile swim in one day but it stretched until 9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25. At one point winds hit 30 nautical miles causing waves to swell to 10 feet. Still he kept on causing Joan Pinder, one of his pace swimmers to call him "incredi- ble. When he started off he was just relentless...like a machine." _hAnIdng of Chr t 1mas Wets? Why not a subscription to Townsman TOWNSMAN/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1991 21