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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-04-05, Page 14Collection featured...Jean Clarkson of Fordwich admires a collection of quilts made by Doris Bushell of Wingham. The collection was featured at the "Stitch in Time" quilt show, sponsored by the East Huron District Women's Institute and held in the Fordwich United Church. More than 140 quilts were displayed. Banner photo. Fordwich FORDWICH—A stunning dis- quilted by the light of a coal oil craft, Gerda Meyer of Fordwich play of hand-crafted patchwork lamp. Today's women carefully who had the Reserve champion quilts, sponsored by Fast Huron choose quilting patterns and buy quilt, a Country Bride pattern, at District Women's Institute and material in co-ordinating colors. the Western Fair, said it took her a held in lie United Church here, But one thing hasn't changed — year to make a Lone Star quilt. proved many things. the quilting bee. Mrs. Meyer started quilting only Above all else, as talented as to- After the patterned top has been six years ago. day's quilters are -- and judging made, the quilt must be stitched to . "She is showing a lot of talent from the quilts displayed they are a bottom, with padding in be- for it," Mrs. Richards said. very talented — they don't out- tween. An expert eye can readily The quilts for the show were shine their grandmothers and discern the origin of the quilting. collected from the seven branches great-grandmothers. Looking at a beautiful quilt in of the East Huron District for the Of more than 140 quilts dis- the Boston Commons pattern, the show. played, the ones drawing the most first one made by a young woman, A collection of quilts by Doris attention were "crazy" quilts made Mary -Anne Gibson of Fordwich, Bushell of Wingham were fea- before the turn of the century. Pauline Richards of Fordwich and tured in the choir loft of the Pieced together with odd bits of Mrs. Wilson immediately recog- church. Also on display was Mrs. velvet, wool, silk and brocade, nized the quilting as being the Bushell's famous quilt depicting a what set the "crazy" quilts apart is work of the Fordwich United team of horses plowing, which the variety of quilting stitches used Church Women- was made for the International • in sewing together the patches. "You would have to go a long Plowing Match held near Wing'. One such quilt, made by the late way to find better quilting than ham in 1972. Annie Taylor in 1899, also fea- that done by the ladies of this • Also on display were historic tured fancy embroidered butter church;" Mrs. Wilson said. dolls from the Gingerbread Doll flies and flowers on some of the Mrs. Richards estimated the Museum, Wroxeter. The museum. velvet patches. modern quilt would take from has over 3,000 dolls dating from "It is truly a work of art," said three to four hours for marking, 1840 to the present day. Mrs. Jean Wilson of Listowel, another 125 hours to quilt and A draw for a quilt, made fol -•s president of East Huron District. eight hours for binding. lowing the show at Dodds Coun- Women at the turn of the centu- RESER e VE CHAMPION try Market, was won . by Sharon ry saved scraps Of -material and-°`-4A.,'nplaf-v'newcomer. to the Kelley of Fordwir'h:•. ' 7"-f-,,.. Information session aimed at rural women; April 12 If you are a female resident of a farm, or rural community (up to 20,000 population), and meet cer- tain criteria, you would do well to circle April 12 on your calendar. On that day the Women and Ru- ral Economic Development organ- ization will hold a Rural Enter- prise Development Initiative' information session at Trinity United Church, Listowel. Organizers expect the informa- tion session will attract women from beyond Mount Forest and Wingham areas. The Rural Enterprise Develop- ment Initiative (REDI) is a pro- gram designed to support rural women. It will help them plan and start their own businesses. The information session on April 12 will last from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It will be on the topic of "Starting a Small Business." Those attending are requested to bring their own lunch. Child care may be available; however, par- ents are asked to call to reserve such care. Pre -registration would also be appreciated. There is no charge for the infor- mation session and women can ob- tain more information by telephon- ing 519-273-5017. The REDI team will establish a training program in Listowel, simi- lar to ones already held in Strat- ford, in Grey/Bruce, Eastern Onta- rio, and Peterborough/Hastings. The self-employment training program which lasts 12 weeks in- cludes ongoing consulting and support once a business has start- ed. The program can accommo- date approximately 20 women. Those who are eligible can find out at the information , session whether or not the program would assist them. CRITERIA Because there is no cost for the RBDI self-employment training program, application requirements are stringent. "This is very serious business; we screen our applicants careful- ly, said Pamela Stanley, a self- employment trainer and network co-ordinator with Women and Ru- ral Economic Development. "The women accepted for this program must have an idea for a business and be willing to develop a plan." Women can apply for the pro- gram if they are a resident of a farm, or rural community and: — are eligible for Unemployment Insurance —heir Unemployment Insurance has run out —have been unemployed and looking for work —are underemployed and looking for work — are receiving Social Assistance Students and women with sev- erance packages are not eligible. "We - would also encourage women who have started their own business and could use some help to come to the information session on April 12," Ms. Stanley said. "We have other programs which might be of assistance to them." PROGRAM The intensive 12 -week self- employment and business devel- opment training program for rural women which will be held in Lis- towel will probably begin at the end of April. For the first eight weeks, ses- sions are held twice weekly and for the remaining four weeks, once weekly. The sessions run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. "We work around holidays, and did not hold training sessions dur- ing the mid -winter school break," Ms. Stanley said. "We are family oriented and know the difficulties involved in the care of children." The 12 -week program covers such topics as bookkeeping and banking needs (including how to approach a bank for a start-up loan), marketing and promotion, how to be community and co- operative -minded. "We work through these areas together." Ms. Stanley said. The toughest part of starting any new business is the forecast- ing of financial income, she said. It's important not to start a business under -capitalized. Fore- casting expenses is the easy part. The toughest part is forecasting income." Following the 12 -week training program, REDI personnel "tracks" the progress of new businesses for 30 weeks. "Because this program is gov- ernment funding, we are required to to that. We just don't leave women sitting out there after we've helped them establish their business," Ms. Stanley said. When the REDI program start- ed a year ago, there were 16 train- ers. Now there are 40 contact per- sons involved in the program. Ms. Stanley said the mandate for the REDI program last year was 80 new businesses. "By the end of October, we had 88 new businesses and by Decem- ber, the number had grown to 106 new businesses,'' she said. New businesses started with the assistance of the REDI program include suchvarious enterprises as: home baking, sheep farming, blueberry farm, auctioneering, a motel business. "We have been thrilled with the results," Ms. Stanley said. "But no one should get the idea that it's easy. It is tough to start a new business and make 'it successful." FUNDING Ms. Stanley said funding for Women and Rural Economic De- • velopment and the REDI program is assured through 1996. She is optimistic the program will remain regardless of which party takes office in Ontario fol- lowing the upcoming election. Be- sides the support of the Ontario Government, Ms. Stanley said she. believes the federal government is also pleased with the program. Representing Women and Ru- ral Economic Development and the REDI program, Ms. Stanley was one of 25 persons given. the opportunity .to meet with federal Finance Minister Paul Martin when he visited London recently. "1 was told we were the only people to stick to our time limit, and I didn't ask for money," Ms. Stanley said, 'adding that Mr. Martin appeared interested and impressed with the program. "I am confident this program will continue, because it is a suc- cess and because it makes good sense," Ms. Stanley said. WednesdayApril 12'4:00 p:m:- .Display Wingham Advance -Times April 19 Edition Classifieds Monday April 17 4:00 p.m. Display Monday April 17 3:00 p.m. ett pngbttra bixturtzanto 5 Diagonal Rd. Wingham 357-2320 Fax: 357-2900 DV'ERTISERS! Get rLcticed Print Measurement Bureau 1994 results Ontario English Community Newspapers 4,889,000 English adults in Ontario read a com- munity newspaper every week! As a percentage of the total English adult population 18+, on average 61% reported reading a community newspaper in the past seven days. 4,889,000 61% Multiple exposures: PMB '94 shows that on average each issue has 2.7 exposures! 70% of Community Press readers refer to the average issue on more than 1 day. 43% refer to the average issue on at least 3 different days. .41 1 day 2 days 3, days 4 days 5-7 days Dual Audience readership: Community newspapers deliver a dual audience readership with 53% of their readers between the ages of 25-49. Male/Female 49% Total Rase 0 18-24 ® 25-49 50+ Male/Female 48% Read a community news- paper In the past week Total base Read a community news- paper In the past week Community Newspaper Readership has grown by 968,000 English adults in the past5 years! 1994 Total base 7,979,000 1993•To41 base 77573,000 1992 Total base 7,410,000 1991 Total base 7,304,000 1990 Total base 7,016,000 PMB `94 provides solid prrof of editorial interest with "Readership -to -Possession Ratios" These ratios illustrate the strong power of community press editorial. Ontario wide Centres 1MM+ 500M- 1MM 100M- 93% 500M 2,310,000 762,000 yy�� �.TS'�i.vfb 91% 30M- 90% 100M 1,208,000 671,000 Receipt Readership 92% 9S% Household Income: Community newspaper readers have incomes that reflect the general population 20% 14°% 12% Under $20M $20.35M ® Total base Read a community newspaper in the past • week. Percentages may not be equal due to non- response. 20% 22% 21% $35-50M 43% 46% $50M+ Int the butt -11 help you reach your target market. For rates and data, please cel 357232O il