HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-01-03, Page 23Tliti fry
Pre-School! Youth! Adult!
WINTER SWIM
FITNESS PROGRAM
Starts
Monday, January 8
at
Vanastra Recreation Centre
(2 miles South of Clinton)
For Information Call
482-3544
(See Schedule in Dec. 19
Focus.Edition)
Forthcoming
Marriage
Mr. and Mrs. John McIntosh
of Brussels are pleased to
announce the forthcoming
marriage of their daughter,
Heather Elizabeth to
Rodney David, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Ron Jones of
Wingham. The wedding
will take place in Belgrave
Knox United Church on
January 6, 1996 at 7:00
p.m. An open reception
will follow at Brussels,
Morris and Grey
Community Centre.
A gentleman visits
Canada's Country Gentleman, Tommy Hunter, makes a
special appearance in Blyth on Feb. 3.
Women's play has Grand opening
"THE GREATEST MOVIE ADVENTURE YOU WILL EVER TAKE!"
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"A TIMELESS
MASTERPIECE! SENSATIONAL"
11 ....A 1111 ACT(./IRY
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FRI.-THURS. JAN. 5-11
FRI. & SAT. 7 & 9 pm
SUN.-THURS. 8 pm
LONG DISTANCE? CALL 1-801-255-3438 FOR TOLL FREE MOVIE INFO
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1996 PAGE 23.
Blyth Festival scores another surplus
Two years after nearly collapsing
under a heavy debt load the Blyth
Festival is in the black, members
heard at the annual meeting of the
Blyth Centre for the Arts Dec. 20.
The Festival showed a surplus of
$21,000 on its 1995 season. That,
along with a transfer of $114,000
from its Investment in the Arts
Endowment Fund wiped out the
remaining $83,000 of the deficit
that remained after the remarkable
turnaround in the 1994 season
when the Festival recorded a
$147,000 surplus. The Festival now
has an accumulated surplus of
$50,000.
"I feel we've got our feet on the
For everyone who ever had a
mother, London's Grand Theatre
presents Joanna McClelland Glass's
If We are Women on the Grand
stage from Jan. 9 to 27.
One of the most successful and
acclaimed plays in recent years, /f
We are Women is fresh, funny and
optimistic. It has delighted
audiences across the country with
its abundance of humour and heart.
On the deck of a beach house, three
generations of women come
together, full of hope and dreams
for the youngest among them.
Jessica, her illiterate mother and
her academic ex-mother-in-law join
forces to convince Polly, Jessica's
18 year old daughter, to learn from
their experience and advice. But
Polly may oe too caught up in her
own hopes and dreams to heed
ground again," said Janet Amos,
Festival Artistic Director. "It was a
wonderful, wonderful year. I was
pleased to do what we did with the
shows this year. There was a won-
derful variety. It really did what I
wanted it to do — establish us
again with our audience."
But she warned that the danger is
not over. While attendance hit 74
per cent of capacity this year the
fact that the first four shows did
only 69.4 per cent was a reason to
be conservative in planning for
1996 when there won't be a return
of He Won't Come From the Barn
(which was held over for an extra
them.
Nominated for the 1994
Governor-Generals' Award, if We
are Women gives us insight into the
lives of four very different women,
the opportunities and choices that
shaped their lives and the
excitement of embarking on a new
journey through life.
Ann Baggley, Rita Howell, Jenny
Munday and Maralyn Ryan make
up the exceptional cast of /f We are
Women, directed by Joseph Ziegler,
designed by John Ferguson, with
lighting design by Sholem Dolgoy.
For ticket information, please
visit The Grand Theatre Box Office
at 471 Richmond Street, London,
or call (519) 672-8800. Toll-free at
1-800-265-1593. Toll-free from
Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania
at 1-800-567-5194.
week and still filled 95 per cent of
capacity).
"The first year was a survival
year," said Amos who returned to
Blyth for the 1994 season to rescue
the Festival from its $229,000
deficit. "This year was a consolida-
tion year. The elements of the orga-
nization are beginning to come
together in a big way.
"This organization is built on
group effort. It is built from the
ground up. Without that base we
don't exist — the population is too
small here."
No feasibility study would ever
predict a theatre could survive in
Blyth, she said. "The existence of
As part of his tour which starts
on the west coast in early January,
Canada's Country Gentleman,
Tommy Hunter will be stopping in
Blyth for one performance, Feb. 3.
A veteran of 27 years on CBC
Television, Tommy Hunter has
built his reputation on familiar
music, family values and good
quality entertainment.
Today's live stage show is fast-
paced, yet intimate as he brings
fans to their feet with pure country
music, memories of his television
days, sacred songs, stories and
more than a few surprises.
Information regarding the one-
night performance may be obtained
by calling Blyth Decorating, Blyth
Festival box office, Goderich
Entertainer, Robin Hood Tours in
Goderich, Ernie King's Music in-
Wingham or Reddi Chef in Clin-
ton.
BMG staff
gets
new coats
Continued from page 22
monthly report on all arena book-
ing involving the 50 cents per drink
rebate at the community centre.
The arena manger will be required
to complete this form with the sec-
retary-treasurer submitting it on- a
monthly basis.
***
Arena Manager Murray McArter
advised that he had been
approached by Union Gas to con-
vert the kitchen stove and heaters to
natural gas. He was instructed by
the board to ob.tain gas and propane
prices for the next meeting.
***
Three new staff coats will be pur-
chased.
* * *
The board instructed secretary-
treasurer Rhonda Fischer to place
nominations for the BMG Catering
Group and the Park & Recreation
Development Committee to the
Ontario Municipal Recreation
Association Volunteer Service
Awards program for 1995.
***
this theatre is amazing. It is even
more amazing that we do new
Canadian scripts."
She warned there are huge chal-
lenges ahead. Some $252,000, 26
per cent of the Festival's budget,
comes from grants from the
Ontario Arts Council and the Cana-
da Council. The Ontario Arts
Council has been hit by a 28.6 per
cent cut in funding from the provin-
cial government and rumours per-
sist that the federal government
wants to dismantle the Canada
Council, she said.
Her words were echoed by Ron
Burt of Takalo & Burt Chartered
Accountants who delivered the
auditor's report. While congratulat-
ing members on the great improve-
ment in the financial picture he
warned "There needs to be a con-
tinued move to self-sufficiency" in
the Festival. He pointed out that
box office revenues had increase by
$133,000 over 1993 while revenue
from grants has decreased by
$75,000. The Festival cut its
expenses by $330,000 from 1993
levels.
One of the challenges of 1996
will be a campaign to reduce the
Festival's capital debt of $308,000
remaining from the expansion of
Memorial Hall and the construction
of new rehearsals and workshop
spaces earlier in the decade. Sever-
al speakers emphasized that is this
debt can be reduced it will leave a
large amount of interest now being
spent on the mortgage to help make
up for government cuts. A cam-
paign will be launched this spring
to try to take a large bite out of this
debt.
Three longtime board members
were honoured on their retirement
from the board of directors. Helen
Gowing of Blyth, last remaining
member of the original 1975 found-
ing board, Sheila Richards of Brus-
sels, a past president and long-time
fundraiser and Gayle Waters of
Bayfield, a past president, were
presented with gifts and their indi-
vidual contributions were praised.
Happy Birthday Don
from the Walton gang
Newly elected to the board of
directors was Catherine Cornish of
Clinton. Returning board members
include: Bev Grierson, New Ham-
burg; Mark Marquis, Blyth; Don
McCaffrey, Exeter; Joan
McCordic, Port Franks; Duncan
McGregor, Blyth; Carol Oriold,
Wroxeter; Gwen Papple, Blyth;
Diane Radford, Blyth; Keith Roul-
ston, Blyth; James Roy, Toronto;
Jim Swan, London; Donna Taylor,
Blyth; Paul Thompson, Toronto
and Marg Webster, Wingham.
Returning to a second term as
president is Keith Roulston. Past
president is Don McCaffrey, Vice-
president, James Roy, Secretary,
Donna Taylor and Treasurer, Gwen
Papple.
E ntertainment
Tommy Hunter comes to Blyth