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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWingham Advance-Times, 1978-11-29, Page 1hi I4 A.` arl A FIRST SECTION 1:4444,4 '44a. -,45,-444^ vi, ILAND'SEAAIR PAO% bus mess Pr pleosueol Listowel, Ontario Call Toil Free 1.800-26144, Wingham, Wedresday, November 29, 1978 - Single Copy Beard growing contest, mayor's levee to kick off Wingham's centenary Jan. 1 Wives, girlfriends and mothers might not like the idea, but Dick Eskerod wants all Wingham and area Men to quit shaving some- time between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15. That is when clean-shaven males who live within a five mile radius of Wingham can sign up for the Wingham centennial beard growing contest. Mr. Eskerod is publicity and promotion chairman for the Wingham centenary. He admits the beard growing contest is a good chance for someone to grow a beard whose position in the community, selfesteem, or wife wouldn't normally allow him to walk the streets with a scruffy face. Anyone wanting to enter the centennial beard growing contest can do so Jan. 1 at a special event designed to kick off Wingham's centennial year and,to raise some funds for later projects. There will also be registration later. The Mayor's Centennial Levee, a social function to be held at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club from noon' to 4 p.m. Jan. 1, will also be the scene of beard grow- ing registrations. — The centennial levee will be an open reception with activities for the whole family, Mr. Eskerod Mrs. Cathers provides treats on 101st birthday This year Martha Cathers turned the tables on her friends and relatives when her birthday rolled around. She supplied the ice-cream and cookies herself. When you're 101 years old that's being generous. The birthday party was held on Sunday, Nov. 26 at the Fordwich Village Nursin& Home where Mrs. Cathers has been a resident for the past year and a half. The guest of honor enjoys fairly good health for her age and keeps herself busy. "Idle hands are useless," she says. She also maintains a realistic philosophy. "You never know at my age how many days God will give you, so I live each one as it comes along." Martha Cathers was born on Nov. 26, 1877 in a log house on the 14th concession of Howick Township which was .built by her father, an Irish immigrant named Jacob Cathers. Her mother,ane Finlay Cathers was born in anada. At the age of 2.g, years, Martha Cathers married her second cousin, David James Cathers who died in 1957 at the age of 87. The couple had one son, James Lloyd, and farmed on various rural homesteads in Howick and near Turnberry until retiring to Wingham in 1947. The, most remarkable thing about Mrs. Cathers is her keen mind and memory. During her birthday she thoroughly enjoyed recalling old times with her many visitors. Aad her many visitors thornughly enjoyed Martha Cathers — and her birthday cookies and ice-cream. Special gifts abound at the Reavie workshop sale Having trouble finding the perfect Christmas gift? Something handmade and just right to give your favorite Aunt Elsie, who detests mail-order merchandise? Don't despair, help is on the way. In just over a week the Jack Reavie Op- portunity Workshop will be holding its annual Christmas sale here, and it has some pretty special things to offer. The people at the workshop have been busy all year getting ready for the sale of their han- dicrafts, with the past couple of months particularly devoted to producing items with a Christ- mas' flavor. A sneak preview of their work last week revealed, among other things: Christmas stockings and handmade candles, trimmings for the tree, some lovely wreaths created apparently from wire coathangers and plastic bags and, hidden off in a corner, some of the cutest little Christmas trees you ever saw, 'made from dried teasel and all trimmed. Work was just getting underway on the Christmas cake, which already showed promise of being delicious. This year the sale is being held in the Oddfellows' hall and, as in the past, it will get underway immediately following the Santa Claus parade- Dec. 9. = Money raised at the sale goes toward operating expenses of the workshop, where mentally handicapped adults are given the opportunity to learn crafts and living skills. Workshop Manager Connie Jamieson explained government grants cover only 80 per cent of the expenses and the other 20 per cent must be raised locally. This sale is the workshop's major fundraising event.• At the present time 11 men and women are enrolled at the workshop, just one under its maximum capacity, and the local association for the mentally retarded hopes to expand it within the next few years. The association is just kicking off a travel lottery which. will hopefully raise money for this and other projects. Area motorists escape first snowstorm unscathed Motorists around this area are either exceptionally good or just lucky, but they managed to come through the season's first snowstorm Monday with an unblemished record. Despite reports of traffic tie- ups and hundreds of minor ac- cidents all across the province the snow caused "an absolute minimum" of problems here, OPP Sgt. Roy Anderson reported Tuesday. He said not one accident had been reported since the snow started, adding he was keeping his fingers crossed and holding onto a wooden door in the hope this' record will continue. Last week a number of persons received injuries in several accidents around the area. Ronald Astles of RR 1, Kin- cardine was injured when he was involved in a collision with Stephen B. McDougall of Wingham along Highway 86 west of the Maitland River Bridge. He was treated at Wingham and District Hospital and then discharged. The accident oc- curred last Thursday. In another accident the same day Hilda De 'Boer of RR 2, Teeswater received (=minor in- juries when the car in which she was riding, driven by her father, Frederick De Boer, became involved in a single car accident along Highway 86. On Saturday George Morrison of Mount Forest and two passengers in his vehicle, Nor- bert Feist of Wawa and Lawrenee McCorquodale of Mount Forest, all received minor injuries when they were involved in a single tar accident along County Road 30 south of Sideroad 30-31 in Howick Township. Perry Bast of Strathroy was treated for head injuries at Wingham hospital and then discharged following an accident several miles south of Gorrie Sunday. Mr: Bast was apparently a passenger in a vehicle involved in the accident.- No other details of the mishap were available. rrirri,vor said. Wingham Mayor William Walden and members of town council will be there to help get the 1979 Wingham centennial celebrations going. The centennial levee will in- clude a buffet luncheon. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for grade school children; tickets are available at Shirley's Corner and the town clerk's office. Organizers want people to buy tickets as soon as possible so they will know how much food they will need for the luncheon. CLEAN-SHAVEN ENTRIES ONLY Only clean-shaven men will be allowed in the beard growing contest, Mr. Eskerod said, though people with moustaches or short sideburns will be con- sidered clean-shaven. Besides the registration at the golf and curling club Jan. 1, men may register for the contest be- tween Jan. 1 and Jan. 15 at Andy Ste. Marie's Barber Shop or George of Brussels' Hairstyling on Wingham's main street. Registration will be $1. There Village looks for trustees GORRIE — Nominations may be held again in Howick Town- ship to have a full slate of police village trustees, here. The village of Gorrie requires three people to sit on the board of trustees, and presently Earl Mino of Gorrie-is the only.trustee. HoWick Township clerk - treasurer Wesley Ball said council will be holding their inaugural meeting on Dec. 5 and a bylaw to re -open nominations will be brought forward at that meeting. If the bylaw is passed, a date will be set for the nominations, although Mr. Ball said he hopes that if two people come forward they will 'be acclaimed to the position to avoid an election. The clerk is. not sure when the nomination period or election will be held, as December is a busy month. He said it would be' in either December or January. The board of trustees looks after the sidewalks and street lighting for the village. will also be $2 licence -to -shave buttons for men who choose not to grow a beard for Wingham's centenary_ Judging of the beards will be sometime during the big week, of centennial activities, Aug. 1-6. Three out-of-town judges have been selected to determine who wins the $50 cash prize in each of three categories, Mr. Eskerod said. The categories are: the long- est, the most colorful and the best groomed beard. When registering for the con- test in January contestants don't have to decide which category they wish to enter. "Some of them haven't grown a beard before and they don't know how it's going to turn out," Mr. Eskerod said. Men in the contest must decide by the middle of July in which category they will compete. Those growing beards will have a chance to see how their own beard develops and will also see how the competition looks, he said. The centennial beard growing committee, 'made' up of Mr. Ste. Marie, John' Day, George Lang- lois and Mr. Eskerod, has order- ed 250 licence to shave buttons. The committee estimates there are about 1,000 Wingham men capable of growing beards. When men from within five miles of town are added to the list of poi tential beard -growers it makes an impressively long list, Mr. Eskerod said. •Aia•••• '" • 4", . • •-:'• •. . ,...• •••• MIR •-• • :14 • CHARTER MEMBERS—Ken and Gordon Edgar were honored Nov. 25 as the two charter members of the Howick Lions 4Club who are still with the club. They have been • , ,aras:As members of the club since it was formed in 1943. rorri left to tight are Margaret Edgar and husband Ken, Gordon'. Edgar and wife Annie. Wingham's history' is told in new Kinette book One Hundred Years of Mem' Kinette ihernb ries a bo k EFS. , thie "telpveia a--large,section in the o recounting he There are ti history of Wingham, went on sale a week ago after hundreds of hours of work by a committee of the Wingham Kinettes.There are more than 200 pages of tributes, anecdotes, photo- graphs and histories of Wingham people, businesses and institu-' tions which have made the town what it is and what it was. The Kinette committee, made up of Mary Lou Cameron, Mari- lyn Ritchie, Anne Wylie, Janice Jackson, Marian Watcher and Evonne Carter, is pleased with early sales of the book, which is available only from committee or sec ons on the in - IT b Parker Campbell retires from Lloyd's after 52% yrs. Long-time Wingham resident Parker Campbell recently retired after more than 50 years of service with the Lloyd -Truax Ltd. eonipany at its Wingham and Walkerton plants. His retirement Oct. 31 marked the end of 521/2 years with the com- pany. Mr. Campbell started with the Lloyd firm in February, 1926, at • its plant here and =was later transferred to Walkerton in 1965. During 13 years of commuting by car he recalls having to spend one night stranded in a snowdrift. much to the concern of all. Upon his retirement he was presented with a fishing rod, reel and case by his fellow workerS and with an engraved home weather station by the company. The Weather station might come in useful over the next few months but it looks as if he'll have to wait a bit to try out the fishing rod. wuicuiay of Wingham over the years, the menewho went to war to protect their beliefs; the schools in which thousands of Wingharnites =grew and matured, the hospital where many were born and died and the places of worship the people built and frequented. Major floods, terrible winters and great hockey teams are re- called in the history book. The growth of Wingham in its early years is followed with details on when. sidewalks were installed and anecdotes on how the new town got its first street lights in January, 1890 The Kinettes' book shows how industries have played a major part, in the town's development, with Wingham once boasting a chair factory, a salt block which had a pipeline to town from the East Wawanosh brine supply, rubber plants, a broom factory, a carriage factory and a number of furniture factories. The history of existing retail outlets and, ones which dis- appeared is also told, as entre- preneurs saw the growing pros- perity of Wingham and thought of ways to cash in on the wealth. Wingham and holds fund rai A new lottery is being con- ducted by the Wingham and District Association for the Mentally Retarded in an effort to raise funds for its operations and projects. Proceeds of the lottery will be used to operate the Silver Circle Nursery and the Jack Reavie Workshop and to send school-age children to l camp. A portion of the money will also be allocated to a fund for con- struction of a new adult workshop and, eventually, a group home The lottery, called the M -R Travel Lottery, will have 12 draws, one per month, with the first taking place April 28. Winners will be given the choice of a vacation for two to one of three preselected destinations. As an alternative they can choose to take a travel voucher worth $1,200 or $1,000 in cash. In addition to the major winner each month a'second draw will be made with the winners receiving a weekend for two in Toronto. Dose who buy their tickets before Feb. 14 get a chance to win a Royal Weekend for two at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Everyone who buys a ticket is entitled to attend a dinner and dance to be held in Wrth, 1980, ries gives a pretty detailed look at the people of Wingham, as politicians and their accomplish- ment are recorded, from the board sidewalks constructed during the term of Benjamin Willson, the first mayor of Wing - ham, to the reconstructed main street, built during the first mayoralty term of William Walden this year. Professionals, merchants and students. — ordinary people who lived in (and live in) Wingham — leinetteS' book. The spirit of energetic Wing - ham people is shown by people like the innovative Elwell Web- ster, who built an 'air sleigh' during the winter of 1930. He at- tached an airplane propeller -powered by a 27 -horsepower motor to a sleigh for economical transportation.' The Kinettes managed to get their hands on many old photos and the people helping them came up with intersting material on the history of CKNX, develop - rnent of Wingham Hospital, .how businesses changed hands and information on Wingham that could have come only from people directly involved with the town and its , development. It's a thorough, well-done and interesting book. One Hundred Years of Memories should bring back memories to anyone who has ever lived in the Wingham area It can be purchased at $10 a copy from any member of the` Wingham Kinette Club. Sep. school board plans spending over $1.7 million in the next five years By Wilma Oke DUBLIN — If the ministry of education approves, the Huron - Perth County Roman Catholic separate school board will spend about $588,500 on school improve- ments and new buses in 1979, about $317,500 in 1980 and about $785,000 in 1981, 1982 and 1983, for a total capital expenditure of $1,691,000 over the next five district AMR sing lottery when the final draw will be made. Only 300 tickets will be sold in the lottery at a cost of $120 each. This can be paid by signing a series of 12 post-dated cheques. Tickets are available from association members, who also have color brochures outlining the lottery. Car fire was Sunday night A car fire Sunday night was the lone blaze to which the Wingham Fire Department was called in the last week. Fire Chief Dave Cl -others re- ported Tuesday that wiring caught fire under the dash of a car owned by Murray Stainton of Wingham and driven by his son, Bruce Stainton. The fire was phoned in to the department at 11:30 p.m. The car was just north of the intersection of Highways 4 and 86 when the fire was noticed, There is no estimate of the damage in the blaze, Mr. Croth- ers said, noting the fire was con- fined to the dash area. years. The board set its priorities Monday night. First on the list was St. Michael's School, Strat- ford, where the board hopes to convert classrooms 1 and 2 into industrial 'arts rooms, class- rooms 3 and 4 into home economics rooms and the gym balcony into a music room, in- cluding equipment for each. The estimated cost is $185,000. Its second priority for 1979 is to add three classrooms at St. Joseph's School in Clinton to re- place two portables now there and to add a special education facility for the pupils in the county of Huron. The estimated cost. is 5368,500. Third priority for 1979 is the purchase of two new buses to replace two 1973 66 -passenger buses at an estimated cost Of $35,000. In 1980 the board proposes to buy two additional new buses for an estimated $36.000 to replace two 1974 72 -passenger buses, In addition the boards proposes two classrooms, resource centre, kitchen and sleeping accommo- dation as a facility for out -door eduCation for the system schools in cooperation with one of the conservation authorities in the two counties, at an estimated cost of $281,500, In 1981 the board will consider the purchase of a 4 to 5 acre site in the town of Listowel at an esti- mated cost of $100,000 and then, in 1982, plans to build a new school on the site — five class- rdoms, library resource and general purpose room, change rooms and health room — at an estimated cost of $410,000. Also planned for 1982 at St. Joseph's school in Stratford, are library resource, general pur- pose and change rooms at an estimated cost of $275,000. William Eckert, director of education, said the improve- ments will "look after some of . our needs but the list is open for deletions or additions of items not already there". Trustee Ronald Murray of Dublin questioned why schools lacking such things as gyms were not included in the list of pro- posals. He claimed, "We're not going for equality of education -7, some schools have everything and others — zilch !" He was told the board would lack credibility if it included in its list of proposals the needs of every school. Trustee Ronald Marcy of Strat- ford asked when the board could expect a reply from the ministry, of education on its decision to approve or not app?ove the pro- posals in the fiveyear forecast. He was told it could be February or not at all. He suggested that if the board was turned down it should send a delegation to Toronto to speak directly to ministry officials. Trustee William Kinahan of Lucknow asked about the outdoor education centre and wliat con- servation authority would be in- volved. Mr. Eckert told him it could be any authority in the two counties and the proposal to the ministry had to be submitted early because, if approved, much time was needed to research locations and work out the agree- ment Mr. Eckert said many boards have worked out agreements and the ministry looks favorably on such projects. John O'Leary of Staffa asked about the school at Exeter. "I think the board only did a mini- mum there this year." Mr. Eckert replied that possibly during the next few years, with the continuing growth in Exeter, it will be necessary to look into Please turn to Page 12 = 'Vr1=ilmni,1.A.rAaaarrif