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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-12-13, Page 31Wednesday, December 13, 2006 TIMES -ADVOCATE 31 "Christmas Past and Present" at Zurich PS By Carmel Sweeney ZURICH CORRESPONDENT ZURICH - The Zurich Public School will be having their annual "Penny Sale" from Dec. 18-20 (during store hours) Tickets will cost $2 for 25 chances. Also their Christmas concert will be held on Wed., Dec. 20 in the gym at 7 p.m. The theme is "Christmas Past and Present" Admission is a canned good item or two for the Food Bank. Dress rehearsal will be on Dec. 19 at 11:45 a.m. Storm date for the concert is Dec. 21. Everyone is wel- come to attend. Christmas Carol The dramatic reading of Charles Dickens "Christmas Carol" by C.B.C. Radio held at the James Street United Church in Exeter on Sun. Dec. 10 was wonderful! All the readers did a great job and the choir sounded so nice. There will be an outdoor, live nativity scene held in Dashwood at Zion Lutheran Church on Fri., Dec. 22 with program times at 6 p.m.,6:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (every half hour) Following the program, refresh- ments will be served in the parish hall in order for peo- ple to warm up. The public are most welcome to attend. Jerome Sweeney enjoyed going to Toronto by train last Fri. and Sat. to visit with daughter Meagan Sweeney who goes to College there and will soon be home to spend the Christmas holidays with her family. A retirement party was held for Ross Fisher at the complex last Friday night with several friends, relatives and co-workers attending. Fri., Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. will be the last day to play Pepper cards in Zurich until the New Year. Games will start again on Jan. 5 and everyone is invited. The bus trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan on Dec. 9 had 54 passengers from various places along with several from Zurich, Dashwood and Grand -Bend areas, which was hosted by St. Peter's Lutheran Church. The weath- er was nice and sunny all day and everyone enjoyed going around to all the different Christmas shops - hav- ing a delicious family style chicken dinner at Zenders and going to the lovely Christmas musical program at St. Lorenz Lutheran Church. Happy Birthday was sung for Bob Krueger and Theresa Kester (both that day) we also missed having Glen Thiel along on the trip and wish him a speedy recovery! Donna did a great job in his place. The Quitter's Guild held their meting at the Town Hall on Mon., Dec. 11. The Golden Agers will join the diners on Wed., Dec. 20 for their Annual Christmas Dinner with all the trim- mings followed by entertainment at the Zurich Complex at noon. Welcome to town Keith Talbot recently moved to the Meidinger Apts. from Clinton into the former unit of Ken and Jean Gingerich (who have moved to Hensall). The family of Nora Corriveau helped to celebrate her "93rd" Birthday recently in London at the Mandarin Restaurant with children and relatives coming from var- ious places. A lovely Christmas turkey dinner and social fun night was held at St. Boniface parish hall on Dec. 5 with 27 C.W.L. members attending along with Fr. John. The dinner was catered by Diane and Jackie Finkbeiner. Mary -Lou Denomme and Bella Soudant gave us some nice readings. A gift exchange with `stealing' kept everyone on guard of their presents. President Deb Pennings gave our two Priests their Christmas gifts from the League. CWL Mary Jacobs will be in charge of the Christmas gifts for the shut-ins. The C.W. L. recently gave a large money donation to our parish Building Fund after our bazaar. There will not be a January meeting. Items are being collected for the Huron County Christmas Bureau. Our prayers and thoughts will be with the Jeffrey fami- ly on Dec. 15 when baby Andre is scheduled for a bone marrow transplant in Toronto. We will pray that it will be a successful operation. The family of Lucille Masse held their Christmas din- ner and get together at the complex on Sat., Dec. 9. The family of John and Bridge Groot also held their Christmas Party and supper at the complex on Sunday. Happy (65th) Birthday wishes go out to Doug Thiel on Dec. 8, Les Meidinger on Dec. 5, Martin Gelinas on Dec. 13 and Sandra Desjardine on Dec. 18. Be sure and save the stamps from your Christmas cards for the missions. Donate pop cans for our Building Fund at St. Boniface and Campbell soup labels for the school kids. Also remember to put your grocery tapes in the box by the door of the grocery store in Zurich for the Skating Club. Bringing in the NewYear Celebrating 150 years! Don't miss our last blast Gala event at the Zurich Complex on New Year's Eve. Tickets for the New Year's Eve Dance in Zurich are $25 per person. There will be door prizes and draws as well as the band the New Boys - call Carol Prang for more info. Lest we forget: stories about local veterans Segment 1 of 3 contributed by Comrade Eric Heywood Prisoner ofWar Camps in Local Area: IN EXETER TIMES ADVOCATE MAY 7m, 1942: A.C.P. dispatch from Toronto states; Ontario hopes to bring 4 - 500 Japanese Canadians from British Columbia to Western Ontario to work in sugar beet fields shortly to relieve the labour shortage, Hon. P.M. Dewan, Minister of agriculture disclosed tonight. Mr. Dewan could not say the exact number involved but explained negotiations for their arrival have been conducted between the Province and the Dominion Labour departments and following the successful com- pletion of negotiations, his department took over. The Japanese would be housed in labour camps in various parts of the sugar beet district that included Glencoe, Centralia, Chatham and Wallaceburg areas. Already a survey of sites has been made by Doc. H.D. Brown repre- senting the sugar manufactur- ing interests in Chatham, Mr. Dewan stated. The Ontario Farm Service will direct the work of replac- ing the Japanese workers and tomorrow the farm director said the Japanese would have to be there within the next two or three weeks. Asked what the workers would do on completion of the sugar beet season, Mr. Dewan said there will be other work for them to do but he did not specify its nature. Mr. Dewan said the department's action follows a pledge by the Ontario Cabinet that labour would be pro- vided if farmers planted the best seed. Despite this pledge it was believed that the prospective sugar beet acreage would not exceed 25,000 acres or about half the processing capacity of the sugar beet company's two plants. "There will be further discussions with the pro- ducers but at the present time it would appear that between 400 and 500 men will be required," the minis- ter said. ExETER TIMES ADVOCATE MAY 14m, 1942: Last week mention was made that a Japanese labour camp was to be located near Centralia to help with the sugar beet crop. We understand that arrangements are being made for the erection of a building 24' x 90' on the farm of Mr. Fred Ellerington at Eden School House corner, recently owned by Mr. John Luxton. This is also located east of Devon Corners which is located 2 1/2 miles south of Exeter, Ontario. The building of the addi- tion to the farm house is on Lot 5, Concession #3 in Usbourne Township, on the south-east corner. The building is to be up by the latter part of this month. ExETER TIMES ADVOCATE MAY 31sT, 1942: Erect Building to Accommodate Japanese; The Huron Lumber Company has the contract for the erection of a new building 24' x 90' on the farm of Mr. Fred Ellerington in Usborne Township. The building is to be used for the housing of the Japanese lads who are being brought to the section from British Columbia to help with the sugar beet harvest. The Huron Lumber Company secured the contract Wednesday and by Saturday they were ready for the roof, but the rain interfered. The building is supposed to be up by May 24th. ExETER TIMES ADVOCATE JUNE 18m, 1942: Japanese Canadians are introduced to Sugar Beet Fields; 55 Japanese lads from British Columbia arrived at the Centralia Railway Station in their special railway car Thursday of last week to work in the sugar beet fields, where there was about twelve hundred acres in this dis- trict. The men were housed in a building built for the purpose on a farm opposite the Eden School about four miles from Exeter. Along with others, the edi- tor of the Times Advocate vis- ited the camp on Sunday afternoon. A service of wor- ship had been held just a short time previous. Rev. N.J. Woods of Main Street United Church conducted the ser- vice. Messrs. Gerald Skinner and Frank Wildfong sang a duet. Reeve Benson W. Tuckey was present and extended a warm welcome to the newcomers to the community. Under the conditions he hoped that their stay in the community would be ben- eficial both to themselves and to the farming communi- ty. Constable W.G. Prichett of the Mounted Police who hails from Frenchman's Butte, Saskatchewan is the man in charge of the camp and assisting him as guards are Earl Whiting, Gordon Appleton and Constable Prichett received us very affably and he introduced us to George Ide, the Japanese foreman of the camp, a university stu- dent who speaks perfect English and appears to be a very capable person. We were escorted into the building where the service had been held in the large dining room only a short time before. "I asked the boys if they would like a service," said Constable Prichett and they agreed that they would, so I made arrangements with Mr. Woods. I think practi- cally every boy was present including those in the kitchen, where supper was being prepared. A potato salad that looked very tempting was in preparation. Everything looked clean and presentable. "We are a tri- fle handicapped for cooking and baking facilities," said Mr. Ide. The stove is small to provide the cooking and baking necessary for 55 men, but we get along pretty well. "How are the meals?" we asked one of the boys, and he replied, "Fine we get good meals." "The boys are a fine lot of chaps," said the constable and in spite of the fact that some of them come from good homes and are fairly well educated, they seem quite pleased and satisfied with their new surroundings. Prisoners ofWar bu They have double tier steel beds with springs and mat- tresses. "They are a lot better than the wooden beds of a construction camp," said one of the lads. At one end of the ninety foot building are the sleeping quarters. We were ushered in and some of the men were sleeping, some reading, while others were sitting around chatting. One of them had a musical instrument that he was playing. We asked them about recreation, and they said, "That they were interested in baseball and hoped they could make a diamond." We promised them competition when they get organized and have some practice. There's the bantam lightweight boxing champion of Canada we were told. We looked him over and chal- lenged him to stand up and we were glad he didn't accept the challenge. We asked him his name and told him we were going to put it in the paper, but with a grin he said, "Nothing doing." well we found out his name was Tad Kato and it was recently that he held the cham- pionship. "How about your trip," we asked. "It was wonderful coming through the Rockies and the prairies were dif- ferent." Although born in British Columbia, most of them have never been this side of the mountains. The boys were interested in the sugar beets. "What are they like, we've never seen one," said one of the chaps. When we told them there were about 1200 acres in the district, and the last crop was to be taken off in the fall. They became quite interested. "Show us the work," said one of them. The boys are all volunteers and they came here from a road building camp at Revelstoke, British Columbia. "We hope to gain the con- fidence of the people of the district," said Mr. Ide. "The work is new, but the boys are willing and we hope we don't have to go into any place where we are not wel- come." It will take time to become established. The men will work under a supervisor and must return to camp at night. "I hope the boys get a break because I believe they deserve it," said Constable Prichett. The lads will be under supervision at all times and any communication or business with them should be through the Mounties' in charge. This will be in the interests of the boys and of the community at large. The lads will be in this district until their services are no longer required and after that they will be moved to Northern Ontario for road building. For the present, their work is confined to sugar beets, but later they will be available to any farmer for weeding onions, picking string beans, haying and the harvesting of or for hoe crops. A committee has been set up in the camp and any farmer requiring help may phone through the Kirkton exchange with the foreman. The scale of wages for the sugar beets has been set, but the rate to be paid for other services has yet to be determined. The lads are between 18 and 29 years of age, all single and Canadian born. They are here for two purposes. One to get them out of British Columbia and the other to relieve the acute labour shortage at a time when food production means so much to the allied nations. The public is urged to withhold any criticism until the lads are able to prove themselves.