HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-03-01, Page 3Community
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Volunteers scarce but crucial
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
Volunteers arc becoming scarcer
but will become increasingly
important in our communities as we
approach the next century.
"Ottawa has all the money,
provinces have all the pow and
municipalities have all the
problems," former Stratford Mayor
Ted Blowes said at Brotherhood
Night last Thursday at Seaforth
Branch 156 of the Royal Canadian
Legion. "I don't think it's fair but
I'm still optimistic," he added,
"without voluntccrs our children
would have a lot more problems
than they have now."
Belt tightening is a fact of life for
volunteer fundraisers and transfer
payments arc going to be seriously
sliced making it more so, Blowes
said. Social trends, such as working
mothers and men doing housework
who no longer have the free time
TED BLOWES
... volunteers In crisis
for service work, compound the
problems for organizations that rely
on volunteers.
ave : of to !et out ..r ••
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BROTHERHOOD'S FOUNDER - Leo Hagen of the Seaforth
Manor Retirement Home wasn't able to be in attendance, but was
honoured with a plaque at last Thursday night's annual
Brotherhood Night at Seaforth Branch 156 of the Royal Canadian
Legion. Mr. Hagen, who set type at The Huron Expositor for more
than 40 years before his retirement is now 84. He was one of the
founders of Brotherhood Night and last week's presentation
recognized his 35 years of service.
hustle more," the former Stratford
mayor added. "The light has been
cut out at the end of the tunnel."
Blowes has a wealth of
experience as a fundraiser. For
instance he was co-chair of the
recent Stratford Shakespeare Days
committee is also a former
president of the Gallery Stratford,
still on its board and active in
fundraising activities such as its
recent radio auction that raised
about $43,000.
His speech was well -sprinkled
with humorous observations, tidbits
and one-liners.
"These days people are taking
comedians seriously and treating
politicians as a joke," he said.
"Perhaps we should legalize crime
and then government could tax it
out of existence."
Life would be duller without the
volunteers who put on events in our
communities such as Ciderfest.
Volunteerism is also the lifeblood
of a wide variety of organizations,
for instance hospital auxiliaries,
Legion Ladies Auxiliary, churches,
Scouts and Guides, and a wide
variety of school and sporting
groups.
Volunteers develop new skills and
friends, Blowes said, and by
volunteering "we feel good about
ourselves."
Celebrity volunteers can make a
huge difference when it comes to
balance sheets, Blowes noted, using
as an example Liza Minnelli's
benefit for the Stratford Festival last
year that resulted in that festival
finishing in the black rather than
about $30,000 in the red.
Municipalities are soon going to
need more volunteers to run
programs they will no longer have
the money for, Blowes said, and
there is an increasing trend towards
user fees. Scanning papers, he has
observed, advertising for volunteers
appears to be another trend we
didn't see as much of in the past.
Still Blowes remains upbeat and
ended his speech on the same note.
"Know thyself. Unto thine own
self be true," he said. "And never
wash whites with colours."
Knights win plaque
The Knights of Columbus won
the new attendance challenge
plaque at last Thursday night's
Brotherhood Night at Seaforth
Branch 156 of the Royal Canadian
Legion.
It seemed only fitting since the
Knights founded the annual event,
put on by eight Seaforth and area
service clubs on a rotating basis, in
the early 1960s.
The challenge plaque was a new
wrinkle this time around after a
disappointing turnout in 1993.
It seemed successful. The Knights
had 25 members present Thursday,
nudging out the local branch of the
Legion with 22.
Optimist Club spokesman Larry
Dillon noted that though his
organization • only had three
members present, it represented 33
percent of that club's membership.
Some local clubs are feeling the
volunteer pinch that guest speaker
Ted Blowes talked about at length
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in his speech.
Similarly the local Loyal Orange
Lodge seems to have gone the way
of the dodo in this arca, with no
representatives at this years event.
Jim Rose of the local Oddfellows
(IOOF) chaired last Thursday
night's event, where a plaque was
presented to the . Knights
representative Tony DeJong to be
forwarded to member Leo Hagen at
the Seaforth Manor Retirement
Home for 35 years of service.
Hagen was unable to make this
year's event, although he was the
moving force and guiding light of
Brotherhood Night in its early
years.
Other area organizations involved
in the annual event are the
Foresters, Masonic Lodge and
Lions Club.
The Knights of Columbus will
once again host Brotherhood Night
next year.
Team may solve volunteer problem
At least one local organization Centenaires executive member Jim approaches the 21st century.
seems to have ternporarily solved Campbell who chaired the get Campbell also said he was
its chronic problems with a shortage together. encouraged by the number of
of volunteers. He says enough people committed parents with sons who may play for
The Scaforth Centenaires Junior to help the hockey club next season the team in future years who
"D"evelopment Hockey Club, on that plans to suspend have been showed up at the meeting. You just
the brink of suspending operations shelved and they will definitely ice can't run a club in a town like
for the 1995-96 season because of a team next time around. Those that Seaforth without their help, he
the lack of helping hands, held a committed also have the experience added.
public meeting on the issue last and necessary skills, suchas Manager and executive member
Wednesday night at the Scaforth treasurer's and fundraising ability, Gregor Campbell, no relation, was
and District Community Centres. to help the 21 -year-old franchise absent assisting behind the bench as
The results were encouraging and meet the challenges it faces in a the Centenaires opened their
"very positive" . according to small rural community as it Ontario Hockey Association playoff
Seaforth teacher says include geography a
•
Dear Education Minister David
Cooke,
As a secondary school geography
teacher, I applaud many aspects of
The Love of Learning. However it
disturbs me to sec that in this rec-
ommendations for a 'reasonable'
core curriculum model v.2p.84, it
would be likely that most Ontario
students would NEVER study the
geography of Canada or take any
GEOGRAPHY credit in the special-
ization years of secondary school.
In fact the future curriculum
proposals (v2,p81) show none of
the typical students taking a
GEOGRAPHY CREDIT! This
document completely ignores the
excellence of Geography as a
school subject for the development
of skills and methods for life-long
learning, surely an essential goal for
a school system entering the 21st
century..
As an educator and Geography
specialist I find this an appalling
scenario for the future citizens of
Ontario. Knowing geography is a
necessity in todays society because
all learners must:
Shakespearean actor dies
On Feb. 22 with enormous sad-
ness the Stratford Festival
announced the passing of one of its
most beloved actors, Nicholas
Pennell, atter a brief battle with
cancer. Mr. Pennell was 56 years
old.
A veteran of 23 consecutive sea-
sons with the Stratford Festival,
Nicholas Pennell was to appear in
this year's productions of The
Country Wife, Macbeth and
Amadeus. He performed over 77
roles at the Festival, including the
title roles in King John, Macbeth,
Richard 1I, Hamlet and Pericles, as
well as John Worthing in The
Importance of Being Earnest and
Orlando in As You Like IL He was
a favourite at Chicago -arca theatres
and most recently appeared in
Sleuth at the Court Theatre. His
one-man show, A Variable Passion,
toured to many major American
cities. With over 250 television
credits, he was best known for his
role as Michael Mont in The
Forsyte Saga. He frequently served
as a guest teacher at universities
across North America.
On Feb. 20, the first day of
rehearsals for the 1995 season,
Pennell sent a letter to the com-
pany, stage management and crew
in which he passed along his regrets
on having to miss his first season in
24 years and shared his thoughts on
the challenge of the rehearsal pro-
cess and the joy of acting. "Each
year," he wrote, "the miracle
renews: we band of artists arc
released into the adventure again; to
•
renew the act of faith in the recre-
ation of the spirit of imagination."
In sharing the news of Mr.
Pennell's death with the acting
company, Artistic Director Richard
Monate made the following state-
ment: "My dear friend Nicholas
was a much loved Stratford Festival
company member for 23 years. His
dedication, talent and generosity
were an inspiration to us all. To
Nicholas the theatre was a vocation,
and in his last letter to the Stratford
Festival company he wrote of the
redemptive power of art. He will be
deeply missed and his rich legacy
fondly cherished."
Mr. Monettc recalled a recent
conversation in which Mr. Pennell
had expressed gratitude for his life
in the theatre, and in particular for
having had the opportunity and the
privilege of speaking the words of
Shakespeare. He then quoted to the
company Mr. Pennell's favourite
lines from Shakespeare, spoken by
Hamlet in his death scene: "If thou
didst ever hold the in thy heart,
absent thee from felicity awhile,
and in this harsh world draw thy
breath in pain, to tell my story."
A service of thanksgiving for the
lift of Nicholas Pennell was held
on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. at the
Festival Theatre, 55 Queen Street,
Stratford, Ontario. As expressions
of sympathy, donations may be
made to the Nicholas Pennell
Workshop Fund, c/o the Stratford
Festival.
• have a solid knowledge of their
nation's geography in order to
understand our regional diversity.
• understand their own locality in
order to better understand their
world to live and work in a GLO-
BAL SOCIETY.
• know the physical, human and
spatial organization of our country
in order to understand the signifi-
cant contribution of geography to
our Canadian identity.
• understand cultural diversity to
promote tolerance and unity.
The Royal Commission has com-
Your
Bud Gowan
Headquarters
Cardno's
Min's Wtat
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series at Lucan.
• His status next season after five
seasons at the helm remains
uncertain.
Business pressures and new
responsibilities mean he will have
less time to devote to the manager's
position unless more of his duties
can be shared next year. He says he
will make a decision when he has
distanced himself from this season
and discussed it with his family,
who he adds he has hardly seen for
the past six months.
s subject
milted a most serious major
omission by not' specifying a Cana-
dian Geography Credit in its pro-
posed curriculum organization. I
would urge the ministry to recon-
sider and clarify their intentions
regarding this most critical lack of
foresight in their curriculum propo-
sal for Ontario's schools. I anxious-
ly await your action and your reply,
as the state of Geographic Educa-
tion may be in dire jeopardy.
Sincerely,
J.R. Ball,
Social Science Dept. Head.
1411t4/1
Ontarians can read
all about it.
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The Huron
Expositor
527-0240
100 Main St., Seaforth
It is with great pleasure that
Jackie's Donuts & Muffins
proudly introduces the new owners
of
fatier:/,
COUNTRY._,;
DONUT (f;
CAFE
Janet & John Haak, and their 3
children; Daniel , Steven &
Amanda of Londesboro look for-
ward to serving you and hope that
you will enjoy Janet's Country
Donut Cafe.
Jackie would like to thank her cus-
tomers for their support in making
Jackie's Donuts & Muffins a suc-
cess. Jackie would like to welcome
the Haak family to Seaforth and
wish them all the best in
their new venture.
SEAFORTH RECREATION DEPARTMENT
Presents
MARCH BREAK — HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS 1995
FIVE EXCITING DAYS OF ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR CHILDREN
TO ENJOY DURING THIS MARCH BREAK.
r
FOR:
LOCATION:
DATES:
TIMES:
COST:
TO REGISTER:
•
CHILDREN AGES 5 TO 12 YEARS
MEET AT ARENA EACH MORNING
MONDAY, MARCH 13 TO FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1994
9:00 a.m. To 4:00 p.m. (supervised lunch available)
$8.00 PER DAY OR $40.00 FOR THE FULL WEEK
FILL IN THE FORM BELOW AND RETURN IT TO
THE RECREATION OFFICE, OR CALL 527-0882.
SCHEDULE OF WEEK
Mon. March 13 - A.M - Bowling at Starlight Lanes (Meet at Arena)
P.M. - Skating
Tue. March 14 - A.M. - Crafts with Susan
P.M. - Erewhon Theatre presents "Charlotte's Web"
Wed. March 15 - A.M. - Movies
P.M. - Skating
Thu. March 16 - A.M. - Sports and Games
P.M. - Swimming at Vanastra, bus leaves from Arena at 1:00 pm
Fri. March 17 - A.M. - Childrens preference
P.M. - Skating
The following week - March 20 to March 24 will not be supervised. Activities taking place will
be: Mon., March 20, Tues., March 21, Wed., March 22 and Fri., March 24 from 1:00 to 3:00 each
afternoon will be Skating.
Cut along line and please return bottom half to Recreation Office.
PARTICIPANTS NAME:
STREET ADDRESS,.
TOWN: PROV: POSTAL CODE:
TOWNSHIP:
PHONE it: ALTERNATE N:
PARTICIPANTS DATE OF BIRTH: MONTH:
PARTICIPANTS HEALTH CARDN:
GUARDIAN'S NAME;
DATE:
YEAR$
DAYS ATTENDING: (cirde) M T W TF ALL
`AMOUNT PAID:
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M