Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1996-04-17, Page 15GUESS WHAT'S COMING... Bebind tite scenes of Lucan's 125 anniversary plans ReporterBy Brenda Burke T -A LUCAN - Despite recent disagreement between organizing committees, plans for Lucan's 125 celebrations on June 21, 22 and 23 are well underway as the village gears up for its biggest bash since the Lion's Club held a fair more than a decade ago. The 125 Committee was established in September as an umbrella group to oversee numerous subcommittees including heritage, security, entertainment, parking, food, citizenship, parade, crafts, tours, displays, antique cars, antique tractors, ball tournament, promotions and fundraising. Also involved in organizing the anniversary are local churches, schools, nursery schools, service clubs, sports organizations, firefighters, guides and scouts, the business association and village council. "I like to think of this as the last big fling of the century," said 125 Committee Chair Norm Steeper. "One of our goals was to get as much involvement as we could from the village." With the village growing, said Steeper, the challenge is to involve everybody in the community event. "Sometimes it's hard to fit them in...It was time for , (the anniversary) just for the social development in the village...We were ready for a party....It's a reunion...We need to be able to contact all the people that have moved away from Lucan." With seven general organizing meetings under its belt, the committee looks forward to additional meetings before June. In the meantime, members are busy photocopying fliers, posters, booklets and mailing lists. Promotions, including the printing of a souvenir book, have also been put in motion. "We're at the stage now where all our souvenirs are pretty much in place," said Promotions Chair Jenny Jones, adding the event will be promoted until June, "just to make people aware." "A lot of people have a vested interest in making this very successful," said Steeper. "We see it as an opportunity to promote Lucan," and its "rich heritage." An ambassador from Ireland, he said, is invited to join the party. And, of course, local members of traffii Comn>ip Vice Chair Peggy M ra ostaken on • the task of recording what Steeper calls "a significant event in the history of Lucan." Mastorakos, who has sat on a number of committees, finds this the most challenging to work with. She admitted one of the greatest tasks of planning the 125 celebrations is dealing with the numerous people involved. "It's hard for a lot of groups to get together and agree on things," she said. "Actually, I have a good bunch of people to work with." As for organizing, "Nothing's going to be left until the week before," said Steeper, who added past disagreements have not held up the committee's plans. "We're on schedule," he said. "We're meeting the challenges and dealing with (them)" Meanwhile, the Lucan and Area Heritage Committee, one of the celebrations' sub -committees, is busy organizing a 60 to 70 float parade, wagon tours, historical displays and festival in the park that includes an antique show and sale, flea market, fanner's market, fine art and craft exhibition and children's festival. "We gave our word that we will look after those four venues so we will do that," said Heritage Committee Chair Mike Anderson. "Those four areas are really the backbone of the heritage festival," he added, referring to a separate event the committee holds annually. "Our committee is an ongoing committee and our festival is an on-going festival." Core heritage festival events will coincide with 125 celebrations but there will be some changes. Last year's tractor -pulled wagon tours, for example, may become this year's horse-drawn tours. Tour books will be updated for this event but "our concern," said Anderson, "is to get them accurate than to have them done on time." But the most pressing task facing the committee is its historical displays. After planning for seven months is, to have historical and cultural displays in the community centre's main hall, the committee was recently forced to search for alternative venues due to a change in plans. "Now we're back to square one as far as displays go," said Anderson. "Instead of one large venue we have three small venues." The new venues combined, including the heritage museum and donated space from the Legion and Scout/Guide Halls, do not provide as much room as the main hall and although all three areas will be equipped with much-needed air conditioning for the artifacts, the Guide/Scout Hall is the only wheelchair accessible building. The 24 groups setting up displays must reconfirm their arrangements with the committee, which may be searching for additional space. It's aim is to intersperse Lucan and area history from 1836 to 1995 throughout the three buildings to create a more realistic cultural Also planned is a memory lane of his interest that will travel from the m Park.. "People's main interest is the history of Lucan r. because it's our birthday," said Anderson. "The displays will still be represented, but on a smaller scale." "We can pretty well triple what we did last year but we don't have the space to do it," explained Lima Thompson, vice president of the Heritage Committee...Because of the amount of history th►t's here, we have to delegate... We will meet our target date, there's no doubt about that." The first major fundraiser of Lucan's 125 anniversary celebrations includes a Coffee House Jam on April 26 at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre where from 8 p.m. to midnight the audience will choose the "Best Sounding Band" to appear as the opening act in the 125 Open Air Concert on June 22. At left, Doug.fohnston, Peggy Mastorakos, preparation for Lucan's 125 anniversary. Norm Steeper and Jenny Jones sort T-shirts in 1Nstorlcai artifacts must also be organized for the June celebrations. At left is Linda Thompson, Jean Hodgins and Mike Anderson. MEN MEM NNW Where Are They Now?. is an extended series on South Huro District High School graduates and their career choices Betty BfrreII: creatlng company slides LONDON = `l'tn not just running a nickel and dime business out of my basement," said Betty Birrell, who designs high resolution 35 mm slides for companies such as Kellogg Canada Inc.,rAVCO Financial Services and Big V Pharmacies Co. Ltd. Birrell's computer-generated slides, often containing chart, diagram and logo graphics, are used for internal company purposes such as training, annual shareholders' meetings and conferences. She averages three to six annual orders for large businesses and for smaller groups, updates slides once a year. "I really excel in the service end," she admitted, adding although she doesn't like to be "available 24 hours a day," sometimes such dedication is needed in order to compete in her field. "I'm always ready to do business." Many companies are equipped to make their own slides, she pointed out, adding in an age of cutting back, it can get expensive to appoint existing staff to the task that tends to require costly overtime and trips to film labs. Besides competing with easily accessible Softwear packages businesses buy to construct slides, Bissell must deal with the marketing block of voice mail, which she considers to be "a real problem these days," since "you don't get to talk to real people anymore." Although she markets her slides largely in London, she is able to service customers in Toronto and would like to expand to other areas. Using both drawings and the scanning of photos, Binrell combines logic and creative skills to produce mathematical layout and images with Visual' impact, always with the audience in mind. Although her business "tends to go hot and cold," with its peak time between January and May and the past few months slower than usual, she enjoys being self-employed and believes home-based businesses offering competitive products and services can flourish in times of economic instability. 'The home-based business is really appealing," she explained, because it leaves her time entertain, garden and visit family. Bom in Hagersville, Birrell spent her childhood years in Exeter until 1959. Then she was in grade 10 at South Huron District High School where her parents were teachers. "I had perfect attendance in high school," she noted. She remembers driving with her brother and parents to the high school from the family farm near Ailsa Craig, an operation her brother now runs. "It was a pretty little fruit farrn on the Ausable River," she recalled. Bissell attended the University of Wester Ontario to study math and science and quit for a year to code health claims at London Life before returning for a general arts course. She then decided to become a bilingual secretary and travelled to Quebec to live with a french family where she met her future husband, married and had twin daughters. In 1971, following her divorce, Birrell relocated to Kitchener where she worked for a manufacturer's life insurance company, then a farm equipment company. She was employed as a sales representative for Yellow Pages -Tele -Direct (Publications) Inc., before being promoted to assistant sales manager of the company in Burlington. When news came her office was to close and she met her second husband in 1980, Birrell moved to London the following year and enrolled in a real estate course. But with interest rates climbing to more than 21 per cent at the time, she chose to work as a secretary for Cableshare Inc., a London data communications company where she was asked to learn how to operate the in-house slide -making equipment. "Thirty days later," she said, "1 was in business." MUM I0(Th 1;1 CH i : \i\t1n IWO