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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1966-01-20, Page 9101 bam AttbanceZi LI Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, Jan. 20, 1966 SECOND SECTION A Winter Weekend Winter is a delight to the young, a bit of a horror for the old, 'and a blasted nuisance for the rest of us. Yet even for me, one of the most violent winter-haters in the last category, there are mo- ments when it has a mysterious charm that cannot be duplicated at any other season. Today is one of them. Nope, it's not one of those sparkling, crunchy, sky-blue winter days which no one but a complete misanthrope could fail to enjoy. It's just the opposite. It's one of those brooding winter days when the shadow of the great monster of the north hangs low over the shrinking earth, and his icy paw feels about the walls of the house, seeking a weak spot where he may enter and strangle. His cold, blue breath raises snow-ghosts that sift silently among the naked, shivering trees. His very presence makes the blue-green spruce huddle closely, like frightened cattle in a storm, The water of the bay reflects fearfully the slate-gray of his sightless eyes. A New Business? One Toronto resident did, and he has recently built a sub- stantial business for himself out of an annoyance originating from nearby supermarkets. Su- permarket Methods reports that the gentleman, irked by peo- ple leaving shopping carts on lawns in his neighbourhood, jokingly suggested to super- markets that he be paid for rounding them up and returning them. Business got so good, he quit his former job, and now works full-time as president of his own company which has six employees, four trucks, and a weekly collection of some 3,000 carts. A charge of 25 to 500 is made per cart. Don't be frightened, children. The old spook won't get us. As long, that is, as the snow doesn't block the roads, and we don't run out of fuel, and there isn't a power breakdown. It's a clay for sitting by the fire with a hot noggin, dream- ing, shivering deliciously once in a while, as the monster out- side gives a snort of frustration that rattles the windows. And that's exactly what I'm doing. We've been spending the weekend with the grandparents, in the country. It has followed its inevitable pattern. The night we arrived, it blew and it snew. In the morning it was still snowing, with a wind gusting to 40 miles an hour, piling up the drifts, filling the driveway. Late in the day, the snow stopped, the wind dropped, and so did the temperature, to a nice round figure — zero. Typi- cal visiting winter weekend. But we care nowt. Flames dance in the fireplace, fairies on the television. Tomorrow is time enough to dig out the car, pray that it Nvill start, and hope the snowplow will get through the side-road. While the monster prowls outside, all is serene within. Grandad reminisces about win- ters 30 years ago, when he drove a rural mail route, with team and sleigh. Bundled to the ears. Buffalo robes. Snow piled to the top of snake fences. Stopping for lunch in the still shelter of deep spruce woods. Lonely as the Ancient Mariner, on a white, white sea. And home, darkness deepening, to cosy lamplight, snug farm kitchen, hot food, and anxious wife. While he talks quietly, Gran- ny produces endless pots of tea, cake, sandwiches, chocolates. The kids sprawl on the floor, strumming guitars or dreaming. The Old Battleaxe dozes, silent for once. And even yours truly, lulled by the fire and stunned by a huge dinner, admits that there are times when winter can be wonderful. Present indications are that the Wing- ham town council will swing over to the two-year system, and we believe that the change would have considerable merit. It has become increasingly difficult to find suitable candidates for office, particular- ly for the mayorality, When good men or women are induced to seek election we should be assured of their services for more than one year. In fact it takes the first year on coun- cil to become fully acquainted with the town's business. It is in the second year that a councillor begins to contribute his best to the progress of the community. The council does not require the agree- ment of the voters by referendum to af- fect the switch to the two year system. All that is needed is a by-law which, of course, can be passed by the present council. The only difficulty which stands in the way at present is the fact that the other two elected bodies, public school board and public utilities commission, Last week we visited the Furniture Mart in Toronto and after looking at hun- dreds of exhibits of furniture of all kinds it was with real pride that we saw the show pieces made in Wingham by Fry & Blackhall. Certainly their products were among the most attractive in the entire show. Occupying a space some 30 x 65 feet, the area had been laid out as a seven room house. In each of the rooms dif- ferent settings had been arranged, show- ing the wide variety of styles which are made by the Wingham firm. Fry & Blackhall furniture has achieved an enviable record down through the years for the excellence of its manufacture and Perhaps you chuckled when you saw the picture of.Dave Crothers on the front page of last week's Advance-Times. He was pictured accepting a cheque from Mrs. Jack Gorrie for the Legion funds, but his eyes were closed. He appeared to be afraid to look at the donation from the Legion Auxiliary. Now Dave wasn't actually that stun- ned. The cameras used for press photo- Something that is always good for a smile is the effort of the men's clothing industry to build up an acute style con- sciousness in the men who wear their products. From year to year the width of lapels is altered, three button suits replace two button models and fabrics are changed from checks to stripes—all to make last year's clothes look old- fashioned and so create a demand for new styles. With women it works; with men it's a flop. Right now the well-dressed man is supposed to wear a vest of the same material as his suit. Vests were univer- sally worn until about fifteen years ago One of the more regrettable aspects of this busy age is our declining interest in sports—particularly where our youngsters are concerned. We have a great bunch of young hockey players in Wingham. A lot of their games are played on Satur- days, when it would be quite possible for many adults to go to the arena, but the youngsters usually play their games be- fore empty seats. And this in a town which a scant fifteen years ago jammed the same arena to the doors three nights a week. If you still have some interest in the A great game, make a date with yourself to take in the games on January 29th when no less than five minor teams from De- would also be required to alter their meth- ods of election, At the present time members of both these boards are elected for two year terms, but nominations are required every year. In other words, four members of the school board come up for election one year and the other four the following year. In the case of the P.U.C. one member of the three-man board is elected each year for a two year period in office. If council swings to the two year plan it would obviously be wise to have elections for school board and public utilities only in those years when there was an election for council. Thus it would be necessary for some members of both boards to serve for a one year term until the new plan was fully in force. Many other municipalities have chang- ed to the two year term and most of them are quite happy with the results. It would appear that the same would be true in our own case. the distinctiveness of its design. This year, in addition to the "period" suites, F. & B. showed contemporary furniture and the "soft" look was emphasized. We do not know how many hundreds of hours were devoted to the preparation of the pieces for the exhibit and the house background in which they were shown. Certainly the results were a credit to the local workmen who handled the job. Best of all, one of the firm's owners told us that in terms of business done and orders taken, this year's showing was the most successful in the history of the company. This is good news for the en- tire community. graphy have very fast shutters, usually timedfor a one-hundredth of a second. By coincidence the camera fired at the precise moment Dave blinked — just as all of us do several times a minute. Usually we take two pictures just because of this possibility, but on this occasion we were a bit hurried and snap- ped only one shot. Thus Dave had to appear in public with his blinkers down. and then they became unpopular. It wasn't style consciousness that made the vest disappear, but more probably the heat of the homes and offices in which men worked. Despite the best efforts of the clothing industry to revive the vest it isn't catching on with any tremendous rapidity. Men are far too concerned about their own comfort to be talked into something they don't want, regardless of the dictates of the fashion world. Sure, there are some extremes of at- tire which do change. Men no longer want bell-bottom trousers or spats, but by and large the average male is slow to change his ways. troit will be on hand to fight it out with the local kids. And if you have a room to spare, call Roger West at 357-2263. He is looking for accommodations for the American visitors. Let's show them some real Canadian-style hospitality. Of course the most important thing is to attend the games and thus provide some encouragement for both our own boys and the visiting teams. The Detroit boys no doubt think of Canada as the home of ice hockey and will be expecting enthusiaStic crowds to watch the games they play. Certainly our own kids are going to be pretty sharply let down if no one shows up to see them in action. FAMOUS REPLICA—Bluenose II slips into a foggy Nova Scotian port after a day at sea. The sleek vessel is a replica of the Miss Helen Taylor, Counsel- lor for Low Vision, speaking to the 23 conference attendants, pointed out that the program of providing low vision aids to people with even a tiny bit of vision was being broadened and now included an intensive "re- learning to see" program." Sight which has not been used be- cause the eye has become lazy or inactive, can in some cases be improved considerably with the aid of powerful lenses and long hours of learning to use them." She cited the case of a blind man who eventually re- turned to a sales job as a result of the program. She illustrated how the program helped house- wives by giving them enough sight to read labels of food tins in shopping centres. E. F. Wheeler, CNIB Dis- trict Field Secretary for this area, stated that although the results of this new CNIB retrain- ing program give good reason for optimism -- 60% of those trying the program are helped -- the low vision aid program can help only those whose small remaining sight can be re- stimulated. Those trying the program must first undergo a thorough eye examination at the low vis- ion clinic in Toronto. They must then take on a heavy train-, ing program in the use of the prescribed aid. "The road back to seeing is a very hard one," he stated, "it is crowded with discouragements, disappoint- ments, frustrations and physical exhaustion. Some will be re- warded with more effective use of their small amount of vision as a result of their efforts. Oth- ers may have to travel the road in vain." 4 A '6, fr 4 • J • REMINISCING JANUARY 1917 Mr, Harold Parker has re- turned to town from Preston and will again accept a position in the Western Foundry. His many friends are glad to see him return. The many friends of Pte. A. L. Posliff will regret to'hear that he was among the wounded in the fighting on January 3rd. Pte, Posliff was principal of Wingham Public School when he enlisted with the 161st Hur- on Battalion. Wingham will again have an up-to-date Brass Band. The services of Mr. G. W. Wright of Stratford, have been engag- ed as leader. Mr. Wright led the 160th Bruce Battalion Band until they went overseas, and received great praise in London and elsewhere for the way in which he conducted them. He was also leader of the Chesley Band for a number of years. Mr. Wright is a brother of Mrs. A. Vanalstine of Wingham. JANUARY 1931 Mr. Victor Casemore is at- tending the O. A.C. , Guelph, where he is taking a course in dairying. Mr. R. N. Armstrong re- ports the sale of Fowler Estate at Seaforth to Mr. John Rintoul of Belgrave Probability that oil will be located in this district, as pre- dicted by an expert here last summer, is being followed out by a Toronto firm, which has representatives in the area in- terviewing farmers and secur- ing contracts to drill on their land. William English, who for the past two years has been employed as one of the fore- men in the Gunn-Son-Ola Co., is severing his connections with this firm, and is taking over new duties with a firm in Hes- peler. Mr. Basil Mundy, who has been connected with his father in the grocery business here, has purchased a grocery store in Woodstock. Mr. Mundy is a valued member of the town band, and his leaving will be a severe loss to that organiza- tion. We wish him well in his new venture. JANUARY 1941 It was thirteen below zero Monday night, the temperature falling rapidly during the after- noon and evening. We may have a real old-fashioned win- ter yet. Richard Irwin has joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, re- porting to Manning Pool, Tor- onto, last week. Results of girls' Public School Table Tennis competitions: Sen- ior Champion, Margaret Angus; Runner-up, Helen Lockridge; Junior Champion, Shirley Yeo- man; Runner-up, Lois Lock- ridge. JANUARY 1952 Miss Marion Irwin, daugh- ter of Dr. and Mrs. A. W. Ir- win, of Wingham, has received word that she was successful in passing her examinations for entrance to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing course. She will enter Victoria Hospital, London, at the end of this month to commence her prac- tical course in nursing before continuing with university studies in the same course. On Sunday, Rev. E. 0. Lancaster, rector of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Wingham, announced that he will move to a church in Woodstock at the middle of March. Early in December, the pu- pils of Grade 1 of Wingham Public School autographed a birthday card which they sent to King George with wishes for a happy birthday and a return to good health. A reply for- warded from Government House, Ottawa, has been re- ceived, which reads, "The Private Secretary is command- ed by The King to ask Miss Williamson to thank the child- ren of Grade 1 of Wingham Pub- lic School for their good wishes on the occasion of His Majestys Birthday." Two-Year Councils A Matter of Pride This Is How It Happens They Don't Change Much Teams Need Support THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited, W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert O. Wenger, Secretary-Treasurer Member •Audit Bureau of Circulation Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association. Authorized by the Post Office Department as Second Class Mail and for payment of postage in cash. Subscription Rate: 1 year, $5.00; 6 months, $2.75 in advance; U.S.A., $7.00 per yr.; Foreign rate, $7.00 per yr. Advertising Rates on application. Low Vision Aids Being Broadened More than 600 blind persons in Ontario have had some use- ful sight restored as a result of powerful glasses and training in their proper use. This informa- tion was reported at the recent annual conference of Ontario Field Secretaries for the Can- adian National Institute for the Blind held in Toronto. famous fishing and racing schooner that is immortalized on the Canadian 10-cent piece.