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The Huron Expositor • April 26, 2006 Page 17
Four trees planted Friday marks beginning
of peace garden at Seaforth Public School
Susan Hundertmark
With the planting of four trees -
two of them sycamores in honour of
retired teacher Bill Farnell -
Seaforth Public School has begun to
make its peace garden a reality.
The school population gathered on
Friday to watch the trees being
planted on the edges of a berm
recently built at the back of the
school.
Farnell, who along with teacher
Nancy Kale, has been planning the
garden for the past several years,
said he was glad to see the first
trees being planted.
With Farnell's retirementgift, the
school bought the two sycamores to
provide needed shade on the
school's playground.
"We started a garden club five
years ago at the old .school and its
been three years since we started
planning the peace garden after
changing sites. Therewere too
many other things to do when we
moved into the new school," he said.
With the planting of the first four
trees, Kale says she's hoping "things
will get rolling" and a flagstone
walkway will be built this fall into
the berm, which will be seeded or
sodded this spring.
During the planning process last
year, students of all grade levels
were invited to share their visions
of a peace garden and principal Kim
Black said the pathway through the
garden will be based on some of
those designs.
•. "This peace garden will turn into
an outdoor classroom with features
which many of you designed your-
selves," she told students.
"It takes years of extracurricular
time to get a project like this done,"
she said.
Memorial flagstone bricks, which
will make up the pathway, are still
being sold to help fund the garden.
Anyone who wants to be remem-
bered, including graduating classes,
retiring teachers or families whose
last children are leaving the school,
are being encouraged to include
their stones in the garden.
Shade trees are also being planted
along the asphalt during the next
two weeks and a grassed sitting
area is planned in the "primary.
nook" on the north side of the school
with planter boxes and a trellis.
"There's no place for kids to sit in;:.
the shade right now and not every-
one wants to be running in the play-
ground," says Kale.
While students' council, the par-
ent council, the Seaforth
Horticultural Society, the Avon.
Maitland School Board's Foundation
for the Enrichment of Education
Susan Hundertmark photo
Teacher Nancy Kale and principal Kim Black plant a baby Blue Spruce during
the first planting at SPS's peace garden last Friday.
usan Hundertm photo
Retired Seaforth Public School teacher Bill Farnell shovels dirt into the hole
filled with a sycamore tree planted in his honour with help from, fellow. teacher
Nancy Kale and students Nicole McIntosh and Tabitha Arts.
and local businesses have donated
towards the garden, Kale says the
garden committee is still hoping to
receive funding from some charita-
ble foundations.
"Once we get to the planting
stage, I'm sure many parents and
the Horticultural Society will be
here to help," she said.
ANNUAL MEETINGS
Clinton Public Hospital
St. Marys Memorial Hospital
Seaforth Community Hospital
Stratford General Hospital
HURON PERTH-
HEALTHCARE THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2006 at 7 p.m.
ALLIANCE MITCHELL GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
Members who pay their fees annually shall not be entitled to .vote at any
meetings of the Corporation unless their membership fees were paid in full at
least thirty (30) days prior to the date of the meeting. A person is eligible to
be an Annual Member where he or she pays to the Corporation the annual
membership fee of $10.00 and where he or she meets the conditions outlined
in the By-laws. Annual Memberships in the Corporation are effective from
April 1 in one year to March 31 in the following year.
Annual Membership Fees can be purchased from the Business Offices at the
hospitals no later than May 19, 2006.
Andrew Williams
Secretary, Board of Directors