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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWingham Advance-Times, 1977-10-26, Page 1tAND-Si A -AIR PACKAGE TOUR'S Business or pleasure - beak new! TRAVEZ WV" Listowel, Ontario 2,14111 Coll Toll Free 1-e00-265-63.32 FIRST SECTION Winghar, ednetday, October 26, 1977 Single Copy Not Over 30c Electrohome Company announces closing of Wingham: furniture factory Fifty-two employees at the Deilcraft furniture plant in Wing - ham face fransfer or loss,of jobs when the factory closes its doors at the end of this year. Guy Leclair, general manager of Deilcraft, the home furnish- ings division of Electrohome Ltd., announced the Dec. 30 dos- ing -last Friday. Layoff notifica- tions are being given now for manufacturing requirements to be completed by year end, he said. He added that the 45 hourly and seven salaried employees' cur- rently working at the plant will be -offered jobs at the Deilcraft FACTORY CLOSING—Electrohome's Deilcraft plant in Wingham will be closing its doors at the end of this year after eight years of operation, the company announced last Friday. The closing will put 45 hourly and seven salaried persons out of work unless they wish to transfer to Deilcraft's Kitchener plant. Plans for mini -art gallery are underway at local studio A mini -art gallery is opening soon in Wingham. where local artists will be showing / their work. Bente Mortensen, RR 1, ' Toronto churchmen to be speakers at Sunday services • • REV. G. M. MORRISON Rev. George M. Morrison of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto, will be the guest speaker at the evening service commemorating the 114th anni- versary of Wingham United Church on October 30. A former chartered accountant, Dr. Morri- son served in the RCAF during the war years and was controller of IBM World Trade Corporation in New York when he received his call to the ministry in the early 1950s. He has served churches in Winnipeg and Vancouver and from 1971-75 was secretary of General Council at United Church headquarters. Special musical guests at the evening service will be the Belgrave Men's Choir under the direction of Rev. John Roberts. At the morning service, guest speaker will be Rev. Orville P. Hossie of Leaside United Church, Toronto. Dr. Hossie was at Trinity United Church, Kit- chener, before going to Toronto and is well known in this area, maintaining a summer residence at Bruce Beach. Special music at , the morning service will be sup- plied by the junior and senior choirs of the church under, the direction of H. Swatridge and Rev. and Mrs. Barry Passmore. A coffee hour will follow the evening service. Wroxeter will be the first artist to show work at 'Snyder's Studio at 254 Josephine Street. The gallery is Jim Snyder's brainchild, one he .:has . been thinking about for a few years. en he recently moved to his larger 'photographic studio, he decided one Wall could be • provided for local artists. Ms: Mortensen works mainly in water colors on a variety of subjects. A series she is presently working on is the Amish culture. She feels it is unfortunate many are leaving this area and wants to capture them in her work before 'they become -Memory only. . An interest in,art has been with. her since she was a child. Born in Denmark, she emigrated with her family when four years old and settled in Burlington. During her high school years she at- tendedtwo years ata Hamilton School 'where she could study art more intensely. Central Tech in Hamilton gave her more time for her art since half the•day was devoted to art and the other half to academics. It was at Burlington high school, however, she was fortunate to be taught by Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman. She paints realistic subjects in abstract form. In searching for some type of direction Ms. Mortensen says she has finally decided to stay with a combina- tion of conte crayon and water Mors.. The crayon is a form of chalk. She tried working with dif- ferent media when in her fine arts course at the University of Waterloo. Each teacher prefer- red something different and Ms. Mortensen says when she grad- uated she really had no sense of her own direction. "There° are lots of things to school, however, besides the classes," she comments. The social aspect is one from which a lot can be learned. "You meet so many different people at Univer- sity." She got her first major com- mission at University when a professor bought six pieces of her work. She also had her first art show for one week at the univer- sity gallery. She and her husband, Allan, bought their farm about a year ago and they say they are enjoy- ing life here. They had a son about a year ago and Ms. Mortensen has been away from her work as a result. Now that her son is a little older she is looking forward to getting back to the work she loves with renewed energy. They have a 120 acre tree farm and she sold produce from her garden this ummer with success. An addition to the back of the' house will include a studio featuring . a skylight for Ms. Mortensen's studio. Her artistic talent enabled her to take a job as commercial designer for William Pragers• Ltd. for two years after school. She designed the company's catalogue and store display areas. Pragers designed display areas for other Stores and made and sold the display racks and other store • fixtures on which to put merchandise. One of Ms. Mort- ensen's jobs was to design the Teen Canada section for the Towers chain of stores. She also ran her own business, for one year whereshe designed and made glass light fixtures such a tiffany lamps. Called the Cathedral Art and Glass shop,' she left the business when she wasn't able to buy sufficient glass cheaply enough to sell her work wholesale. An uncle took over the business in Grimsby. Ms. Mortlensen's work will be on display for a month starting Nov. 1. Her pieces range in price from $50 to $150 and will be for sale during the show. Mr. Snyder heard of Ms. Mortensen through another local artist, Guenther Heim, who has now moved west. Mr. Snyder plans to display more artists in the future with the shows spaced out. In the new year he hopes to have Alan Weinstein, RR 1, Formosa displaying his work. operation in . Kitchener if they wish to transfer. It is not yet clear how many will take up the offer. Manpower consultation and placement services will be est- ablished for those not wishing to relocate, he said, claiming "every effort is being made to sell the plant as a going con- cern". Robert Lovell, public relations manager for Electrohome, said U Three injured in single car accidents Three persons were injured in separate single car accidents around the Wingham area last Friday. Dorothy C. Raynard of Blue - vale received minor injuries when her vehicle left the . road- way, entered the north ditch and stuck a hydro pole along Con. 1-2 in Grey Township. The accident occurred east of township side= road 20-21. Larry Lorenz of RR 3, Tees - water, was -treated at Wingham. hospital for abrasions to the arm and face after his car skidded into the ditch along Highway 4, north of Blyth, and struck a hydro pole. Paul Steep of RR 2, Blyth, was admitted to hospital for examina- tion after a. vehicle in which he was apparently a passenger ran into the ditch , along the. Formosa Road north of Edmore. Dispatch system in hands of the police commission The county -wide police com- munications system proposed for Huron County is now in the hands' of the Ontario Police Commission after receiving approval from all five towns in the county. Clinton council approved the proposal Monday night and it was previously approved in principle by Wingham, Goderich, Seaforth and . Exeter. Approval by .the police commission depends upon the provincial funds available. The councils' agreement to the new system is contingent upon the province pieking up 75 per cent of the start up costs, esti- mated at $70,000. .The towns would pay the remaining 25 per cent and the annual operating costs. The communications system would allow police in the five towns to operate under acentral dispatch and give them quick access to a police information computer in Ottawa. the company is not making any provision for early retirement by any of the employees. The Wingham plant had em- ployed up to 100 persons last winter, but layoffs during the year cut the workforce to half that size. Mr. Leclair blamed the closing on "the continuing and alarming increase of furniture imports that still flood the Canadian market from the United States," saying the company hopes to gain effic- iency through consolidation. William Hanula, manager of the Wingham plant, called the closure "unfortunate". "We have a very skilled and efficient work- force," he said, and it's too bad the company has decided to susp- end operations here. The plant here,produced dining room chairs for the Kitchener operation and clock cases for customers. Its turning and carv- t ing department supplied all the 'turnings carvings for the rest of f.the company, Mr. Hanula added. Wingham Mayor William .Walden called the closing "a very ad situation". "It's really hard on a community to lose 52 ,;people," he said, comparing the impact on Wingham to "Sudbury losing 2,300." Reeve Joe Kerr said he is "very sorry and kind of shock- ed", • but' added he doesn't see .what can be done about it. "It's an old firm; been here for a long time," he said, "but I don't see how the government or town council or anyone can do any- thing about it." The Victoria Street building goes back to the late 1800s, when it was built by Canada Furniture Ltd:, Mr: Hanula reported. It was taken ober by Fry and Blackball Ltd. in . the 1920s and operated until 1963, when it was bought by Dho and Kirkham. Electrohome bought it in • 1969 and operated it up until this time. as part of i Deilcraft division.. Car hits pole - cable signal out Cable television subscribers on the east side of town were without service for a few hours last Fri- day. The interruption was the result of a traffic accident near the public school. . When the vehicle went out of control and struck a PUC pole a power unit which feeds power to the cable TV system was broken loose. Local police picked up the unit and it was some time before cable technicians tracked down the missing piece of equipment. As soon as the unit was recon- nected service was restored. The west side of town was, not af- fected. LIONS DONATION—The Wingham Lions Club donated $1,000 to the arena building fund after raising the money by selling peanuts and holding a bingo game. Lions Treasurer Aarun Ghosh (left), shakes hands with Tom Deyell who accepted the cheque on behalf of the building fund as Lions President Archie Hill watches. Go.aI not yet reachedfor Arena fund Wingham Town Councillor Tom Deyell reports that $6,785 is still needed for the arena renova- tion fund. This amount is left after the original goal of $75,000. Amounts collected between July 1 and Oct. 24'are the phone - a -then, $23,853; canvass, $7,827; coin draw, $1,404; interest in- come, $952; donations, $31,609 and donated labor, $2,570. Mr.. Deyell asks for .help to reach the goal by sending dona- tions to him at P.O. Box 1164, Wingham, NOG 2W0.. All dona- tions are tax deductable. ARENA FUND—Tom Deyell (left) accepts a cheque of $1,685 on behalf of the arena building fund from Murray , Gerrie of the Wingham Business Association. CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY—About 50 ladies gathered at Knox Presby- terian Church in Belgrave last week to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the WMS. They later had tea at the Women's Institute hall. Mrs. Harold Campbell of Blvfh was the soloist: N" -s. Margaret Dunbar of Belgrave is WMS president; Mrs. Carol Innes of Brussels is the minister's wife; Mrs. Joe Little of Blyth has been a life member in the WMS for 49 years; Mrs. victor Youngblut and Mrs. Garner Nicholson, both of Belgrave, are WMS past presidents; and Mrs. Alvin Mundell of Gorr ' was guest speaker.