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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-06-01, Page 21eisure, futures and entertai Serving over 25,000 homes in Listowel, Wingham, Mount Forest, Milverton, Elmira, .Palmerston, Harriston, Brussels, Atwood, Monkton, Millbank, Newton, Clifford, Wallenstein, Drayton, Moorefield and Arthur. Wednesday, June 1 , 1 983 ms550.."745P.4,4",...riso•;.-(4,7 .. • by Kim Dadson Palmerston Creamery & Da - A business• that butters its customers up LEFT -,Barry Hamilton packs the one pound prints of butter which come out at the rate of 50 pounds per minute. ABOVE—Clara . Whittaker carefully tests, each can of cream for butterfat content in the laboratory. ton 01 of butter fresh from the churn ready now to go through the print machine. ,-^` - • • - • - • . . • by Vaughan Douglas • It was not likely that in 1911 when Reuben Treleaven left Rothsay and his cheese factory to build the .Palm Dairy and Creamery . in Palmerston that it would eventually become;seventy-twoyears later, the second oldest privately owned creamery in fninaria. • It was equally unlikely that in 1941 when • Archie. Mc{ugan (who was owner of the creamery from 1936 to 1962), hired Russ Wilson,. that Russ would stay with the • business for forty-two years and become owner. . The saga of creameries and Meat dairies in Ontario through the years has been one of steady decline in numbers until now there is only a handful left, among them the Palmerston Creamery. It is unique in several ways. In 1942, even though World War 11 had disrupted much of the normal economy, Russ Wilson took over the ownership of the creamery. At the same, time he purchased the Palmerston dairy and merged it with the creamery renaming. the business the Palmerston Creamery and Dairy., 10 1977 he sold the dairy business to Listowel Dairies. His son David was brought into the business as a full partner and Russ's wife Marion is a shareholder. Those moves made it a family business and it is the leading industrial employer in Palmerston with seventeen employees. Because the changes in the dairy business have been gradual, so much has gone un- noticed, but the Palmerston Creamery has survived the vagaries of the times. hi 1937 there were 337 ereameries making butter in, Ontario, now there are 22 and Palmerston Creamery makes 20 per cent of the butter produced in the province. How much butter comes out of Pelmet- ston? It's impressive. This year Russ Wilson expects-. to make one and three quarter million pounds of butter and to do this it takes about five million pounds of farm separated cream with 460 farmers sup- plying it. It's no exaggeration to say that cream comes to Palmerston "from far and wide across. Ontario." From the Ottawa Valley, from Quebec, from the Niagara Peninsula, farm separated cream is shipped, though the bulk Of shippers are within a 60 mile radius of Palmerston. The old wooden hand churn once familiar on so many farms is just a vague memory now for most people and'has never even been seen by the majority. Yet it is from a simple method that today's modern butter business has grown. ButterMaking is an . exacting business and Russ Wilson has taken care through the years to keep up technically and to adhere to rigid standards - of quality. But even with the changes, Russ sticks with the "old fashioned" method of making butter, using the barrel churn. Today's churn makes butter the way the old wooden churns did, only now the churn is made of gleaming stainless steel and can turn out 2,000 pounds of butter at a time. And that takes a lot of cream, about 4,600 pounds of it. It's the barrel churn that makes the Palmerston Creamery unique, according to Russ Wilson. Most plants today are using continuous process of buttermaking. This means the cream is pumped directly from the delivery truck and goes through an automatic system, corning out the other end "all wrapped and boxed". It's fast and you don't see the product dining the process. "What is unusual about the butter business is that while Palmerston turns out about 20 per cent of Ontario's requirements, -ffldwz" FATHER AND SON PA RTNERSH1P—Dave Wilson, on the left', with his father, Auss in front of the creamery. we are still not producing enough butter for our requirements,' says Russ. There iso doubt that a side -line, started when he took over ownership Of the creamery, has been responsible for Russ's successful relationship with his farmer suppliers. It all started with a suggestion from one of his producers that he take on the Viking cream separator business. Russ took on the dealership and is now one of the few buttermakers in Ontario who sells and repairs cream separators for his producers. It is a service very much appreciated. Handling such a perishable product as fresh cream, it was inevitable that change came as fast as technology would allow. Metal cream cans gave way to plastic pails. Wood gave way to stainless steel. Distance requires refrigerated delivery trucks. Automation gave way to human hands in many of the operations of the creamery. Collecting cream from the farms takes five trucks, owned by the Palmerston Creamery, along with one commission trucker from Tillsonburg and one trucker in the Ottawa Valley who collects cream in that area for delivery to a rented warehouse in Pembroke and then on to Palmerston. Where does all the butter go? The big market is local. Chapman's Ice Cream Co. in Markdale is the largest account, or was in 1982 taking $1.5 million worth of unsalted butter. Butter is shipped to Erb's Poultry Farm in New Hamburg, the second largest buyer, to nine L & M Stores, to Smith's Market Square in Listowel and Walkerton, to Freiburger's Food Markets in Mount Forest and Elmira, to Central Meat Market in Kitchener, to the Listowel Dairy, plus many other smaller accounts in the area. Attention to detail has earned the . Palmerston Creamery many awards through the years. But Russ Wilson is particularly proud of one award. It is the all - industry Lawrason Shield for combined competition in butter quality. This is con- sidered the top award in the industry and was awarded to the Palmerston Creamery in 1967. Russ also has earned many 1st and 2nd place ribbons at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Attention to detail has sometimes led Russ Wilson to be an innovator in many respects. One example of this is how he checked on his farmer suppliers for quality. To give some background of this it should be explained that in 1961 the Palmerston Creamery had a score of 100 per cent first grade butter and 43 per cent of that was what they call 93 score, considered to be a premium grade. In the same year, another creamery had 62 per cent second grade butter. This prompted the Ontario gover- nment to put a person in each creamery in the province to make comparisons between the quality of butter produced and to visit the producers supplying those creameries. Russ Wilson was ahead of this program. Back in 1956, Russ, himself, visited those producers who were shipping cream to him. As he describes it, "If they were doing a good job they got a clap on the back arid ii not I gave them helpful hints." Russ was acting as his own inspector before the Ontario government quality control program came into effect. The dairy business has had its fragile times and the Palmerston Creamery has not escaped them. There have been ups and downs, caused by many reasons, economic and personal. It has prompted Russ Wilson to expound on his philosophy of life which he claims is as much a motto for his business success. "I live one day at a time and we have had rough years, but there is a power stronger than ourselves guiding us." The Palmerston Creamery is entering another chapter of its history of butter - making. It may soon be one of a kind. Downtown Elmira wouldn't be the same without Sid Batchelor To say that Sid Batchelor is a character from downtown Elmira would be an over- sight—Yet that's what heis, part of the fabric • AtiottOUttreNtibiNifown mtra specie In fact, downtown wouldn'tie-the same without Sid's cheery hello and distinctive laugh. Not to mention the sound of his harmonica during warmer months of the year. To the passing tourist he may appear to be the friendly hello in the small town, to many high school students he's an adult they can trust, whom they can joke with, someone who doesn't see, trouble when he sees youth. To downtown merchants he's a third eye, picking up fallen signs, cleaning overturned flower pots — someone who takes pride in • ,citiWntown. Sid is probably more a part of downtown than even the merchants since he chooses to livethere too. You don't work or frequent downtown for too long before you know Sid. There's no formal introduction, you just know who he is and 'Sid has his own philosophy about life; "The whole secret of life is to be appreci- ated." Sid can say, without exception, that he has made this come true. There is more to the man than meets the eye — modesty pre- vents him from wanting all. his good deeds revealed but suffice it to say the Kiwanis Club of Elmira saw fit recently to present Sid with a plaque which states: "In ap- preciation of his outstanding contributiOn to the betterment of the community over many years." Little things like a plaque — or a story in the newspaper — make Sid's day. A few days after receiving the plaque, Sid stopped his friends downtown and showed them his prize. "I'll sure remember this the rest of my life. Wasn't that a nice thing for them to do? Imagine!" Another exciting moment which Sid claimed he would never forget was the eve- ning Wintario came to town and he played his famous harmenica (about one inch in length) to a full house at the high school gymnasium. No other act get the audience hand clapping and cheering like Sid did with his harmonica! And he remains a fan of. Faye Dance. At a small social following the Wintario show he talked with Faye and she kissed his cheek. His cheek was one of the topics for conversation the following week in downtown Elmira. Sid has been in Elmira since 1953, but he was 14 years old in 1924 when he arrived in Canada from Picadilli near London, Eng- land. His father died when he was young and his mother was an invalid. He was sent to a boarding school and at 14 was given the choice of Australia, Canada or New Zealand for a new home. He chose Canada and came by boat with 97 others. "It was cheap labor for the farmers," Sid explained. Although he had a large family (he was the youngest of seven) in England, Sid came to a new country by himself at 14 years. "R didn't worry me very much," he says. He went to Goldstone, north of Elmira, and from 1924 to 1941 he farmed. He was re- wquainrteedt.o labor for three years after landing in Canada and then he was free to do what he d "I was lucky to be with a good family," Sid says and recalls no cars were used in winter months. "All horse and buggy." He also recalls the box socials that were hwithout eldwonwoeuetkdernindskin`g`drinking." had a damn good time "The best years of my life were at Gold- stone," Sid idsays. "Only problem was the box socials — you never knew who you were go - He was a member of the choir at the Gold- eshtounrechchurch and a leader of the young people. He used to sing "lots of solos" in Music is still a part of Sid's life but today ne makes music with his harmonica, which has introduced him to more people than he would probably have met otherwise. On a train trip to Vancouver Sid says he ended up playing for people in all the cars as they SID BATCHELOR is proud of the plaque the Kiwanis Club of Elmira presented him for his "outstanding contribution to the betterment of the community over many years". A bit of a downtown character, there is more to Sid than meets the eye. asked- him to move about and perform. Knowing Sid, it wouldn't take much encour- agement. "I love making other people happy," he says. He's been asked to play for students at lo- cal public schools and he has entertained residents at the Elmira Nursing Home-. He has won competitions for senior citizens with his harmonica and it's not unusual to see Sid giving an impromptu show in down- town Elmira. He has played the harmonica since he was seven years old. In 1941 Sid moved to Grimsby where he worked in a factory but in 1953 he returned to Elmira and for 15 years worked for the Ontario Department of Highways. Although "retired" Sid continued to work, at the Elmira race track for 10 years, as a security guard at Link Belt and until last year he shovelled snow for downtown mer- chants. "I put in my regulation for shovelling snow and none came' " the 74 year old points out Percy Robbins, president-elect of the El- mira Kiwanis. says Sid Batchelor is "an all around lovable man —• well loved by every- body — kids and adults You can't get kids to love a man." The teenagers do seem to have a special spot for Sid. During noon hours and after school hours any number of youths pass Sid with a boisterous "}lello Sid!" And he re- turns the hello, often using their first names as well. "A lot of people run down teenagers. I don't. 1 can have the time of iny life with teenagers." Sid claims. "The teen's tell me Red Skelton's got nothing on you!" As well as presenting Sid with the plaque, the Kiwanis have made him an honorary member of the club. And after he feels that everyone has seen his plaque it will be hung nn his wall next to the picture from Win- tario. one presented by a downtown mer- chant. another sent to him from Wintario. Sid has returned "orne" seven times in the years since he came to Canada, five times by boat The first time he returned was in 1930 ( "It was a gond thing 1 did, my mother died in 1931." and it cost him $160 return He helped to pay for the trip with the 8222 he was paid for three years of farm labor -- wages which were kept in trust for him until he was 21 "Life is just *ant you make it." says Sid For a man with no relatives. Sid Batchelor has made a life filled with family. And his 'family.' is just that much better for having known him