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Clinton News-Record, 1980-07-17, Page 17y The old"Tipperary" ool Goderich Township schoof by Elaine Townshend ' In the late 1960s, one -room schoolhouses closed their doors to students and fell under auc- tioneers' hammers_ S S Nn 9 Goderich Town - ship, called Tipperary• School, on the• corner of the Telephone Road , A Concession 9 was built by the neighbourhood in 1937. Over the last 12 years, the former school has become an at- tractive -three-storey home for Garth- and Pat Postill, Travis, Darrell and Allison: Garth claims it was more by accident than good management. They were living on th Bayfield Line, a few miles from the school, d were looking for a home of their own. Gart also needed a workshop for his bulldozin usiness. He submitted a tender of $500 but xpected the school to sell for $1,000 to $1,500. a and Pat were both surprised.when their ,eeflder was accepted. - Their first intention w to use the school for a workshop, but cl�snvestigation showed the property had i -6t to offer as a home - one -and -a- half acre •, - . land, a 180 -foot drilled well, hydro, an 9rnace in excellent running condition and Aft -'24-foot by 42 -foot building-l'of sound con- struction. The walls consisted of three layers of brick, cutfing down on the need for insultion. .._4_,' A. =. The. _1r-iol<s,..were deep._. red, al mo�st brow ��.In ..:._ , colour! - not the usual 'red schoolhouse' sh de. Postills' first task was to make the main part of ,the school into living quarters to use while they renovated 'the rest of the . building. .They lowered the ceiling eight feet on the first floor; leaving the second storey 13 feet to the peak. Two staircases in the front corners were dismantled and combined to make a single. Stairway leading from the entrance in the centre of the north wall up to the main floor. The kitchen was built over one stairwell; a bedroom over the other. When another bedroom was added downstairs, the first became an office. A large L-shaped living room and dining.roorn, a second bedroom and a bathroom were also bu-ilt on the secend level. The original hardwood floor was sanded and covered with urethane, and the doors were stripped and stained with red- wood. Pat designed the kitchen cupboards with convenience in mind. In the dinino room, for. example, a neat storage compartment with hinged doors cora.cealed a foldiryg'card table. Alf -.the windows were remo ed from the` main. floor and 'used- i n a--wyrkstaop that -Garth bu i I f later. Wider lower,w-r doves were inserted in the kitchen, dinette and bedroom, and two large picture win -crows filled most of the east wall of the livin• mom. The picture windows overlook the pio - another later addition. The doorway leading from'the living room to the patio was a ousenow attractive home fire escape in the school. Under the patio, they built a bedroom opening__ into the basement rec. room. The original win- dows were left in the basement; Garth used steps for sills. Some of the cement walls were covered with blackboard and wainscotting from the - school: Carpet on the rest of the walls and the floor, and a.Franklin stove at one end add to the warmth of the room. Also off the rec room are, the furnace room and pump room. A wooden staircase, that Garth refinished, leads to the entrance and main stairway. From the office on the second floor steps lead to the third revel. The steps were built over the main stairway, where the teacher's room used to be. A type of dormer -windows in the t p storey added_str-aight-walI s,pae,e _w-itho-ut, isting_.t.he original outline of the roof. When cEompl ted, the - upper floor will. contain a sewing room nd two bedrooms. you bought a house or 'built one, the building would all be done at once," says Pat. "Sometimes we wish this was finished, but if it was, we wouldn't know what to do ... with this, we have something to work on and something to, look, forward to." Some renovation ideas came from other people's homes; others came from magazines and blueprints of housing designs from some of the contractors Garth worked for. But acco.ding, to -Pat, most of the ideas were Garth's. Friends, • such as Wayne Stirling, Bob Langendoen and Harry Torrance, helped him put his ideas into practical use. • "Sometimes an idea strikes us, but we don't know if it'll work/' Garth explains. "An ar- chitect coutd draw up plans and know how it would look, but we have no idea." Garth and Pat aren't afraid to experiment. They have even built a wall, torn it down and -sta-r-t-ed-over agatrruntit t ley ac leve e ook' they want. "You can try off -beat ideas in a place like this," Garth continues. "You don't have to stick to any rules. Things that might not Zook right in an ordinarily house are fairiaht here- at least, we think they are. As long as we're comfortable, we're happy:.. this place suits us." A few years after buying the school, PostiIts were able to add thirteen and -a -half acres_ of _. land giving them a small bush, and space for a -I a a.d-,-1- n-dsc-a-p i -Flt- and--a---wer-krAe-p,_____ _y - — • On the outside, the Postili home retains its school look with the bell and the sign over the entrance. Brown shingles cover the original roof; brown trim blends with the brick, and oyster siding, used to conceal patctied windows, complements the brick work. The result is a comfortable home with_ an.-uniqu eye-catching CIPeion This is how the former Tipperary School, SS No. 9 school in Goderich township looked when Garth and Pat Posthil bought it in the late 1960's. The 11 school, built in 1937. The basic structure of the school has been retained, while still being practical for a family. The former school house. °has become functional, as demonstrated by this back view looking onto the patio. and 44.74.1 showing the picture windows in the living room. (photo By. ,This is a view- of the Tipperary School today, following Elaine Townshend) extensive alterations by the P'osthill family. The west wall show the 'type of dormers windows used on the top storey to add space inside without disrupting the,roof outline. (photo - by Elaine Townshend) Lucknow woman one of only two Canadian female tractor pullers BY SHARON DIETZ Canada has two lady tractor pullers and one is from Lucknow. Barb Helm .is driving her husband's V-12 Packard in the 7,000 pound modified class this year, after watching from the sidelines for the past three years. She admits she was scared of the idea at first. She was raised on a farm and never learned to drive ,tractors there, becausshe was afraid of them. But she has a good friend who drives and she has been coaxing Barb to give it a try for some arranged for the owner time. That friend is Mary and operator of the huge Verheyen from Kerwood, sled the tractors pull in Canada's other lady competition to meet him tractor puller who has at a pull early so Barb been driving for two could take a practice run. years. Last year Mary's But Barb and Art didn't husband handed over the make it to the pull in time controls of their Gold for the practice rub and Digger to her exclusively. Barb's first time down Frank retired as driver the track- was in com- because Mary was doing petition. She placed such a good job and eighth in a class of -15 her - became • their ace first time out and was a mechanic. bit incredulous that she Barb has also -received, .had actually done it. But more than a little en- she plans to keep on couragement from her competing and will be husband Art. It was his pulling in the 7,000 extra little push, that got modified class at her aboard. He had Lucknow's tractor pull this year, July 19 and 20. Over 5,000 people are expected to attend the two day event held at the Lucknow Tractor Pulling Park, Havelock Street North. This year's pull is sanctioned by the Great Lakes Tractor Pullers Association, a local organization formed this past year including pullers from south- western Ontario and northern Michigan. It is also sanctioned by the Michigan Incorporated Tractor Pullers Association and the Canadian Mini Tractor Pullers Association. Many of the top name pullers from Michigan and Ontario are expected • to compete at the tested Lucknow pull yet. pulls held this summer race to win the Molson Lucknow pull which will The pull is also one of and pullers will be able to Canadian awards. make it the' best con- the Molson Point Series add to their points in the Huron -Perth Agricrew sizl1 looking for jobs Fluron-Perth Agricrew is well underway for another year. The crews have been at work for more than three weeks and they have acquired lots of practice at such jobs as stone picking, painting, hoeing vegetables, spraying milkweed, haying and cleaning, barns. . There art three crews working in Huron -Perth ,,►�., this summer. Members of the crew working out of , the W ingham-Dungannon area are:- foreman, Debbie Armstrong and crewmembers Lila Stewart, Diana Leddy and Janice Robinson; Clinton-Seaforth area: foreman, Dave Townsend and crewmembers Cathy Van Ninhuys, Darlene Hoogenes and Jeff Leeming ; Exeter -St. Marys area foreman, Steve Willes and crewmembers Audrey Van Weiren, Joan Cooper and Gary Fluttert. They have been quite 'busy for the past three weeks but are by no means hooked for the whole summer. All of the crews have openings. But the sooner you book the more likely you will get the clew on the day that you wish them to work. Each crew consists of four students of high school age, one foreman and three crewmembers. The crews are hired on a daily basis (minimum of one and maximum orfive days per farmer) . A day is defined as eight hours. The cost to the farmer is $90 for the crew for a day. The crews supply their own transportation to and from the farm, and their own lunch. The farmer is asked to .have an alternate plan in case of wet weather. For more information or to book a crew, call the Huron -Perth Co- ordinator, Heather Boyle at the Stratford OMAN' office at 271-0280 or the Clinton OMA office at 4824428.