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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-03-01, Page 1i►N APPROPRIATE RETI EMENT GIFT for Harold Wild. •after more than half a, cen tury 'Ole e furnituretrade;was a fine living recap "chair finely carved. •At left Electrohome` Ltd.'Plant Manager Bill .Haduia congratulates Harold ashe presentsthe gift Friday in'the presence, of:°Planrenapioyees:.` Harold, an expert craftsman; has produced many such chairs over the years.. (Staff Photo) �rcid 0 years A little more . than half a cen- tury ago, ayoungiad by the name of Harold Wild wangled' a job in the shipping and recelvingg de- partnient of the Old Brown's factory across from where the Senior Citizens' housing is located now in :Wingham. It may have helped to have his father, 10 Janes Wild holding a job with the same company. At any rate`, young Harold worked away at the shipping and receiving job for about a year before being transferred into the martufacturing section. Here he took up a form of "on-the-job training" which was not exactly a formal apprenticeship, but served the same purpose. That was how Deputy Reeve of 'Wingham, Harold Wild, got his start lothe furniture business. He closed his career in that craft Friday afternoon at Electrohome Ltd., successors to Fry and Blackhall, when he was honored by the company and fellow employees at a presentation ceremony in the plant lunch room. Appropriately enough, the gift was a finely carved chair similar to thousands on which Mr. Wild had worked on over the years. Plant Manager Bill Hanula congratulated Mr. Wild on ac- complishing such a record of service, and made the presenta- tion of the carved and up- holstered living room chair, to the applause of the assembled employees. Mr. Wild responded' suitably, then took a few minutes to recall some of the amusing incidents in the plant in years gone by. Mr. Wild had ret>Etrned from a session of Huron County Council especially for the event, and was accompanied on this final day at the plant by his wife Vicki. After the ' ceremonies were completed and Mr. Wild received the good tithes and handshakes of %inioir ennployeee and miiteti '01 many yam, he eon- tedto take the reporter.photo. ild concludes as craftsman grapher through the plant with which he had become so familiar. He recalled that when he was first starting as a furniture - maker, one item then coming into big production here and in other plants in Western Ontario was cabinets for Victrolas, those wonderful record players power- ed by a wind-up motor which were becoming popular as the new musical entertainment vogue in Canadian homes: Changing Scene Now, of course, what's left of the dozens of furniture plants in Western Ontario make cabinets for TV and HiFi sets where once big console radio cabinets were the rage. Mr. Wild picked up an actual - size drawing of a chair com- ponent and showed it to the cameraman as the first stage in a furniture project. From that he moved to partly prepared hard- wood components which had been shaped • in another department and were ready for carving. He picked up several chair legs in various stages of preparation to illustrate the progress of the work through Ore various stages, then took over a spindle carving machine for a couple of minutes to show the carving being ac- tually executed. Before the advent of the spindle carver, a chisel and mallet was held in the hands of the carver, with the work secured on a bench. Now 'the material is held in the operator's hand and pressed to the carving machine. It's still hand carving, but in reverse. Some years ago almost every piece of living room furniture was elaborately carved, but recently the trend is away from carving, partly due to the ex- pense involved, partly to modern designif which tend to eliminate, it, with many upholstered pieces showing little if any world at all. Plastic components have moved in and superseded wood in some areas. Many firms avoid carving because of the expense factor in a very competitive world, lnnova- tions in recent years in moulding of . plastics have resulted in re- markable reproductions, plastic castings which are difficult to tell from the real thing. Sweeping changes have also been made in finishing methods, the old air drying system being replaced by heated ovens in which items of finished furniture travel ' through an automated dryer which accomplishes the results of a day of natural drying in perhaps 20 minutes. Lamps, too, have changed radically in design with the years, and now stress stark mod- ernistic designs, without embell- ishment once so popular. For Mr. Wild, it was not exactly goodbye. He hopes to visft the plant from time to time to keep in , touch with his old friends and what's new in the furniture craft. Should leave vehicle from curbside door A Wingham driver got a forc- ible reminder of the danger of opening the driver's door of a car after parking on Josephine Street early Saturday afternoon. Ron Murray was in the process of getting out of a '69 Mustang owned by Donald W. Murray after parking on the east side of Josephine Street in front of the Day Care Centre. Right at that time a '72 Buick owned by Robert McIntosh of RR 3, Lucknow and driven by Lois Marian McIntosh collided with the door. the upshot was about $200 damage to the driver's door and area on the Mustang and about $i(lit to the right side of the fluiek. Wingham police investigated. Wing atii has m with other stnall which develloped y With single family housing with* a b Ideally, according. to Davidson, Huron County multipfefamllY such as apartment should :be fin. °the r municipality near . the area,, els and Pte,, time, any attempt to locate in such an area, on'p fic arteries, generates from residents in the area concerned. This happening in,other. to it's happening ln'W This- was a s a,' t situation explainedtaa Meetingof `ingbam council and Wingham trict Planning mrd evening. the was to fits the a James Hayman, Developments for a,, permit for a' 30 -unit' buildingbbilding and At.:y townhouse fo structed on the Iender on ;; vey east of Sint' Drive, of :P. E Madill on 'School. have°.gone.Io tlx: board Ant, view was �'essed at, the board meeting and again at the :� meeting, , and met. with rgeome assent by Mays` .Milt' who meed the cart may'have. been put before the' horse in this stance. He' did point out that the developer bed expressed tae urgency abtsit the matter and wished start construction Marc.1 so there Jowled. to be pressure for -'an early start. The minutes of the ,planning board proceedings were. read to sthe•Joint meeting, at Which point Mayor Miller' asked Town,SolitCi- for Alan Millto discuss legal points involved. Legalities lorebeams%Mr. .Mill, Mayor Miller conclu� his explanatory +rematrks'by commenting that &,ltneni: by► M'r. Hay ty o -of faed ! ality toeommandrentals in the ren of SW to° $l60..a month' is y needed, bene, and council iattld assist such a person with i►e oject - ' "We should help Mr. Hayman .to f daa suitable r , ,he imilding IMO r .. wou1dbeup decide„ and the town clerk would.he're- a� to show cruse whY the permit should not be issued. The question would be, the'town clerk have grounds for refusing, in and the onus wohtd be on hien e .s grounds existed. {someone mentioned inan aside that if Wingham were :someth'like London,<the clerk might run a gchance Of going to ° jam',, wondered ) Mr.,what weight a court 'might put on personal promises regarding the single family residence intention, He pointed out ,there is no�so aingiby. law, and: the legal' implications are fairly' clear. C sUggested Mr. Hayman. seems. to know what he is about and"he might proceed an with this legal picture in Mind. Mr. Davidson Volunteered that the town plan would indicate de- The,pla%tee last week,f'had'as ed .coact. refect :the application 'on grounds .the proposal+ conform: to the town',s #tail, residents of the area, have4ol tions."The board rited`that t not opposed to rental housing? ing built in town; but opposed ..site selected and sugges several alternative locations, of which core „under the s ala n st a ns o they iy.:opp ortUrui oe ie ton has long 1 and,wi>t should becompleted e town can grow in an :order �sheon. lie repeate\d that he ltwhen a developer wants to in- t a substantial :amount of one y in the town, the. town d co-opperate. Mill, glen, called on for a legal opinioa-of the situation, pre- ced his remarks by stating the Wats official plan. designates 'Si 10 te for the apartment tOrnhos .r tial" ,. i eh81ty. He'a laai concerned is ''nn . ,tin- registered portion of a plan, and is not .a subdivision. a s1. As tb-,'the "'intention of the originalieyeloper that the area should continue to be single fern- -Alio am- ily Wats, lie recalled that the late Tom Henderson had circulated a petition amongstpurchasers of ots there to obtain their assent to ' the construction of a four family unit. He ..thought- this indicated clearly Mr. Henderson recogniz- ed he had sold the lots with the ,:understanding the area would remain single family dwelling and he would require assent to build otherwise. . No Grounds As to council's position legally at the present time, he suggested in the event council refused the building permit, the builder's re- course would be to obtain a writ of mandaumus to force issuance of ;the permit, in whichcase he could see no legal grounds on which the development could be. stopped. Other considerations than purely legal points might enter into a court case, but, this 'ever, n attendance at 'the meeting were Mayor ;° DeWitt Miller, Deputy Reeve Harold , `Wild, Councillors Marg Benne, Wil- liam Harris, John t+esoi Jack Gillespie and Tim Willis' For the planning board; ofwhich ``Mayor Miller and Court. Bateson are also members, there was Chairman David Bender, Don Kennedy, Cal Burke, Dr. Ken Lawless, rwith Hans Kuyvenhoyen,' who owns property in the concerned area, sitting in, along with Summit Drive area residents Ken Wood, Marvin Streich and Dick LeVan. Sitting in as planning . con- sultant on the case was Planner Gary Davidson of Huron County, Goderich. In opening the meeting, Mayor Miller reviewed proceedings from the time of the original application to couneil, when it" was approved "in principle" and passed on 'to the board for con- sideration. This impressed. some of the planning board members as hav- ing been the wrong. procedure, believing the application should Oralle location. for high der' construction, subject' to the conditions t it be adjacent to pew,shopping. andschool flit , : be. on amajor traffic artery in the sYstem. Ur. Mill `_ . r that these M pis that a � might consider. Mr. Mill contim4ed bY Pointing out, that 'if ` the town decides to issue the permit, citizen ob. jectorsalso have legal recourse, The protesters could obtain a restraining writ and Make the -matter a court issue. However, the onus Would then fall on thin tCpro whY the Pere t sle d not,be issued, and t ie - :pense of the actien would theirs, not the town's.Afternikte' site .. Councillor Jack +4iliete cofn, ,mented that planning board, seemed to have taken..a. negative Lions Talent Hunt Show Bigger, Better than ever Wingham Lions' Talent Hunt shows are getting "bigger and better" in the best way, with bigger" audiences and better entertainment, judging by the sellout audience that jammed the., auditorium in the town hall Thursday evening. Sixty extra chairs were added at the last minute to accommodate the capacity audience that enjoyed the performance of no less than 12 separate entertainment acts by groups and individual per- • formers. Well-known broadcast person- ality Jim Swan was MC for the event and carried the show along after a few words of greeting from Lion Russ Zurbrigg, second vice president of the club, who welcomed the largest audience of the season to date. Judges faced with the responsi- bility of picking four winners from 12 acts were Mrs. Sydoey Smith of Teeswater; Mrs. Robert Ahara and James Ward of Wing - ham. Co-ordinating the show was ArchieHii11, activities chairman for thLions, assisted by many ' other 'inerbera"of the club acting as theatre staff. The WInnere Winners of the top four spots and. the tig)it, to compete in the Final show in April were "The Atwood Sweethearts" composed of Mary Jane Broome, Donna Lee -Cockwell, Kim Bowman, Leslie Ambedian and Laurie Chapman; Gail Travis, a young soloist from Walton ; The Coultes Sisters, An- drea, Alison, Karen, Janice and Joanne of RR 5, Brussels and "The Young Four" of Clifford, Debbie Lou Creighton, Jidith Anne Murray, Bruce Dickert and Mark Auger, Greatly impressing the audi- ence and the judges, but finishing just out of the money with an "honorable mention" was a Bel- ' graveShindigs folk ". singing group "The Other groups competing were a duo of folk singers, Darlene Wes- selink of Brussels and Nelson Caldwell of Blyth calling them - Selves "A Hit and a Miss''; The Lougheed family, a group of four Singers and players; "Black F' rest" a group of two guitar players and drummer; Brian Air istrong, piano soloist; The Listowel Stepping Squares, composed of Shelley Lawrence, ristlna McCoag. Marjorie Wil- k'n, Nancy Johnsto Ross Stone, Jitent Johnston, Todd Hartsburg and John Walken; Carol Wheeler, rUittstels pianist; . "Huron •. ty", a singing group of four. THE ATINOOD SWEETHEARTS were one of the four winning ggroupsat -Wain ha Club Talent Hunt show at Wingham town hall Thursday eveningandproved :very► air tive entertainers. Left to right are Mary Jane Broome, Donna Lee Coekwell, man, Leslie Ambedian and Laurie Chapman. - (Staff Photo) One killed, five hurt in snowmobile crashes A 14 -year-old Belgrave youth, Donald Malcolm Scott, was killed and five other persons were in- jured seriously enough to require attention at Wingham and Dis- trict Hospital last week, as the result of snowmobile accidents, adding five injured persons to a lengthy list of admissions and treatment for injuries. Donald's death at Belgrave last Thursday was the first snowmo- bile fatality in the jurisdiction of Wingham Detachment OPP. The accident occurred on Huron County Road 12, a half mile east of Highway 4, when the snowmo- bile he was driving struck a parked car owned by Murray Irwin of Wingham. He was pro- nounced dead at the scene by Coroner Dr. J. K. McGregor of Wingham. Const. K. Balzer, OPP, investigated the fatality. Hurt Racing Two men were seriously in- jured racing snowmobiles at Brussels Sunday when Robert Blake, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. DOndld Scott George Blake, RR 2, Brussels, lost control of his machine at high speed and was thrown off. He was admitted to hospital here with a fractured pelvis. His condition was reported satisfactory. Const. K. Balzer, OPP, investigated. Harry Poole, 32, of Chatham suffered a fractured spine when thrown from his racing vehicle at Brussels and was admitted here by St. John Ambulance crew from Listowel. His condition was reported.satisfactory. Const. Bal- zer also investigated this acci- dent. Earlier in the week, on Tues- day, Jack Thompson of RR 1, Holyrood, aged 15, received in- juries to his left hip while snow- mobiling when he struck a post at his horne. The accident was in- vestigated by Kincardine OPP. In another snowmobile mishap Friday, John Thompson of Blue - vale struck a wire fence while driving a snow vehicle on the 10th Con. of West Wawanosh, approxi- mately a mile and a half south on Highway 86 on the division line. He suffered a deep laceration to his face and abrasions to his neck. Const. Ricker of Wingham OPP Detachment investigated. Machines Collide On Sunday 17 -year-old Stewart Alton of RR 2, Lucknow, suffered' a fractured ankle when he lost control of his snowmobile while driving on ice and ran into another mathlne. Hisd left foot was pinned between the machines.\ Const. K. Balzer in- vestigated. Hockey accidents accounted for three injuries treated at the hospital. On Friday Robert Lowry, 12, of Kincardine, re- ceived a laceration over the right eye. On Sunday 11-year'old Kenneth Mai>rrka of ItR 1, Bel - grave, received a lacerated fore- head when struck by a hockey. puck. Also on" Sunday. Richard Foxton was treated for . facial lacerations caused by a hockey stick at Wingham arena. Kenneth Sinnamon of RR 2, Wingham, fell and fractured his upper right arm a week ago Sun- day. On Tuesday of last week Mrs. Joyce Showers received com- pound fractures to her left index finger when she apparently caught her hand in a press while at work. In a car accident Saturday Terry Noble of RR 2, Auburn, suffered a fractured nose and jaw, facial lacerations and abra- sions when he lost control of a car and struck a tree on Highway 4. He was given treatment here, then transferred to Victoria Hos- pital at London. Const. Harold McKittrick of Wingham Detach- ment OPP investigated. Passed Out Teeswater youngsters, Nancy Meyer, 10, and Timothy Meyer, 5, children of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Meyer, were apparently victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Mr. Meyer left the children for a very few minutes while pur- chasing milk at a local dairy. The car motor was running at the time, and when he returned he found both children un+oohaelous and immediately drove thein to the hospital. They were given first aid and soon revived. On Saturday Mrs. Joan Robin- son of RR 5, Lucknow, fell on ice at her home and eve the ligaments in her left leg. On the same day Mrs. Gamins Lina of RR 3, Clifford, eived lacerations to her t atm a at• m while helping her Itt. with in tl �' at. , • 0