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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-06-23, Page 43Wednesday, June 23, 1999 limiter Times -Advocate 43 Paul Dykeman was greeted by family and friends during a reception in honour on his retirement as Facility Manager of the Lucan Community Centre. Paul will now have more time to devote to his love of fishing.Wayne Hall has become the new Facility Manager.' Ausable Theatre kicks off second season By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF LUCAN -- Lucan's Ausable Theatre is just starting its season and its founder and co - artistic director says the second year of the, theatre's existence should be easier than the first. Former Lucan resi- dent Jeff Culbert said when the theatre first opened last year in the Ausable Centre a lot of infrastructure work was needed such as wiring. "Everything was new last year so this year everything's relatively easy." Another plus for this season is the fact that people are now aware of the Ausable Theatre. Students will be dismissed early five times in the coming year By Michele Greene SEAFORTH -- Secondary students with the Avon Maitland District School Board will be dismissed early five times next school year to give teachers time to learn and implement the new curriculum. Last Tuesday night in Seaforth, Superintendent Marjatta Longston told trustees secondary students will be dismissed one hour early on the first Monday in October, November, _February, April and May. Teachers will have two -and -a -half hours of training on each of those days on all the key components of curriculum reform. the new provincial report card, including the annual education plan, the teacher adviser program, student assessment and evaluation and specific content and instructional strategies. Lorne Rachlis, director of education, said the Huron - Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board was contacted about early .dismissal in their system to alle- viate busing costs. Public" and separate students ride on the same buses and the two boards share the costs. He said the separate board was interested in shar- ing speakers and information but weren't wouldn't consider fly dismissal. The Avon Maitland board will have baa cover the costs of busing the students home early. Some additional funding to cover the busing will be available from the Ministry of Education and Tri. The balance of the busing costs will come from the central staff development budget. • • .W e e J�' � , �� � • � � � � �r.,�,�l�l+Ne`vg��`w�"� «?tom -... � ,, ,�. '� �� vv—• n Community clubs and individuals stepped up to help Community Living -South Huron purchase a wheelchair van.Those who helped include Oakwood mixed golf tournament organizer Bob Williams, Seaforth Knights of Columbus member Uoyd Steinberg, Grand Bend Lioness Joyce Morden, Exeter Lion Cliff Marsden, Exeter CIBC representative Jeannie Lee, Order of Alhambra Algarva Caravan #168 mem Phil Walker, Parkhill Optimist Casey Bax, Alhambra member John VanKessel and Community Living human resources supervisor Trevor McGregor. Contributions totalling over $33,000 helped Community Living buy the vin and pav for its conversion.The total worth of the converted van is about $46,000.The rest of the money will come from Community Living's Flowers of Hope campaign. Others .that contributed include The Bressette family, the Grand Bend Legion, Blessings, Munition, the 2Sth anniversary of Roger and 1oisWeliis and the Royal Bmnk.The van was bought from Exeter Chrysler and converted byVViterlotit Sparrow Hawk..The van features a wheel- chair lift and seats five plus two wheelchair de -downs. McGregor dulled the van the "Cadillac of the mercy" The generous contributors were treated to a reception featuring punch and cake Fridep: "Last year it was 'w and see what Kapp s', and this year it is a lot like everybody knows and everybody's ready. I'm pretty opti- mistic." Last year's season went well for an inau- gural season, said Culbert, adding that he will continue this year his philosophy of putting on plays that are either debuts or plays that aren't being shown anywhere else. "Of all the plays we've done this year and last year, I've never hearci of anybody in this area doing them," he says. The theatre's season began last night with "Sea Marks," a play by Gardner McKay and directed by Culbertt's sister-in-law Alyson Pauley. "Sea Marks" runs until July 3. "Sea Marks" is a good choice for, an opener, says Culbert, because it can be appreciated by a wide audience. The theatre's second play, "Communing with Claire," runs from "July 20-31 and is a world premier from Medicine Fat= Alberta, writer Donald Lemna. The season wraps up with a Robertson Davies play, "'A Jig for th • Gypsy," which runs from Aug. 17-28 and is directed by Culbert. Wh i l e Davies is a household name in Canada for his novels, Culbert says Davies, is a neglected playwright and is enjoying giving his plays exposure. The audience at last year's plays consisted ;mostly of "theatre types" from the Lucan and London areas and Culbert says he hopes to expand that audience this year. Culbert, who 'has been involved In theatre for years, says he finally got the initiative last year to begin the Ausable Theatre. He said his attitude was, "Wouldn't it be great if we were picking the shows? Pick the actors and do it from the' bottom up. There's a certain satisfaction to working on all aspects of the show." He said in the past he has spoken with friends and family about how to start a theatre in Lucan. The idea never seemedthat realistic because Culbert said theatre isn't a big money maker and there wasn't space. With the advent of the Ausable Centre, the theatre became a possibility. While the centre is small, seating only 64, Culbert enjoys the small atmosphere and says its size is actually an: advantage because it makes the productions more intimate. There are some limitations, though. The Ausable Theatte will feature no big musicals, Culbert says, because there simply isn't the room. white he's:. content th the size of the the- atre, he says he'd like to see the theatre make, more, money so he can pay the actors and crew more money. Receiving no grants or sponsor- ships, Culbert financed the theatre himself and while he would like to make enoughmoney toy sustain the project, • he's. not in it to become rich.. "I don't think overall this is a big profit-mak- ing venture." Stephen de STEPHEN TWP.. -= Stephen residents can breathe a sigh of relief there will be no tax. increase this year. in fact, when .factoring in decreases in the county and . education portions of taxes, there will be a slight decrease on tax bills for Stephen residents. There has been some growth in assessment as well, which also helps lower taxes, township administrator Larry Brown said. While taxes are going, down, Brown said the tax rates haven't been set yet. so'details on how much taxes a resident with a $100,000 property will pay aren't available. Brown said that infor- mation won't become available until July. In terms of expenses, the biggest this year is $444,000 for road construction and $83,000 for bridge work. The township has already done work on Conc. 16-17 south of Shipka to Hwy. 5 and Conc. 14-15 north of Crediton to Hwy. 83. The township is also budgeting about $500,000 for expansion on its arena next year. While grants to the township are essentially the same this year as they were last year, Brown said he anticipates the province will be reorga- nizing its grants after next year. ,..a .+4 •