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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2015-05-20, Page 88 News Record • Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Three Clinton girls in the business of saving lives Seaforth's St. Thomas Anglican Church Laura Broadley Clinton News Record Courtney Hymers, Courtney Monk and Nicole Middegaal thought that it just another ride to the gym. The three girls were driving to a gym class when Hymers, 20, noticed two horses engaged in a fight near a fence on the side of the road. Most girls in their late teens and early twenties would keep driving but not when they're from around here. The girls soon realized that one of the horses was actually giving birth while the male horse was attacking her. They knew immediately that some- thing was wrong - he isn't sup- posed to be in the same area as a mare giving birth. While Middegaal and Monk chased the stallion away from the mare, Hymers got her father, Brad, on the phone. The mare was too exhausted from fighting that she lay on the Laura Broadley Clinton News Record Nicole Middegaal (L), 19, Courtney Hymers, 20 and Courtney Monk, 19 stand beside the mother and daughter they saved on May 13. ground and stopped pushing. Brad told her that she was going to have to get the baby out. Not thinking twice Hymers pulled the baby out of its mother - saving its and the mare's life. The farm owner's son made it at the end of the ordeal to thank the girls and take the mother and baby to a safer location. Hymers, Monk and Midde- gaal nicknamed the new baby "Darla: lC M II. 40, "o"• ,-'" `,tit Clinton and District y Kinsmen and Kinettes !?11,' r 7 --.., 2015 CO-ED SLOW PITCH TOURNAMENT 1 Grand July 3rd, 4th, & 5th 2015 Register early! Deadline June 20th, 2015 Only 20 teams will be entered $225 per team Call Curtis Tideswell for info or to register (519)440-1408 Tickets going fast for... PlucKinFest 400 Elimination Draw Prize Draw for $1500 Sun. July 5th, 2015 at the Track Draw starts at 12:OOpm under the Grandstand. GET YOUR TICKETS EARLY! Early Bird Draws: June 14th -$150, June 21st -$100, June 28th -$50 $1500 Grand Prize Tickets available from any for 400th Ticket drawn Kinsmen or Kinette or contact Lottery Licence No M748918 Kathy Meier 519-482-8987 Tickets - $20.00 Jill McCullough 519-440-7292 Up to $3,900 in CASH PRIZES to be won! L 1 1 1 1 to celebrate 160th anniversary Marco Vigliotti Postmedia Network Nestled neatly into a quiet tree -lined street near Seaforth's business strip, along rows of aging two- storey homes, St. Thomas Anglican Church remains just as firmly rooted in the community as it did when construction concluded in the 1860s. The backdrop to numer- ous homilies, weddings and baptisms over the years, the Jarvis Street church is being readied to host a very special celebra- tion next month over a cen- tury in the making: its 160th anniversary serving parishioners in the Sea - forth area. "We've been talking a lot about the history in ser- vice...and trying to inform people of what we have for our history because you forget about our history " said Joanne Rowcliffe, chairperson of the church's anniversary committee. "We have people that haven't been to St. Thomas all their life, so it's nice to refresh and to learn these things!' The festivities, set to start at 2 p.m. on June 7, will include a special sermon, refreshments, a cake and a roast beef dinner catered by Bon Vivant. The Blyth Festival Orchestra is set to serve as the musical guest. There will also be a dis- play made up of photos from events hosted over the years at the Anglican par- ish, which maintains the support of a dedicated core GODERICH LIONS •L ARENA BINGO - EVERY WEDNESDAY 7PM TV BINGO Monday 7 pm Eastlink Channel 10 Hurontel Channel 1 TCC Channel 48 LIC. #M717467 itw .1 1..1r''� Make YOUI 040411 like, f. zany jun Fruit' inr sr .r leam!f 15 killoon CYCIIIEfil -I 524,23i AW volunteer group even with church attendance contin- uing to fall - a scenario fac- ing many places of worship across the nation. Organizers are eagerly looking to fill the pews for the anniversary sermon and dinner, inviting every- one - Anglican or not - to drop by and at the very least enjoy what is expected to be a mouth-watering meal. "We want to fill the church on the day. We will not turn anybody away - if we have to dig out chairs, we will dig out chairs," Rowcliffe said. "Times our tough in church, attend- ance is on the decline. We need a boost, we need to have a good feeling." Funds collected during the anniversary sermon will be used to send local children to Huron Church Camp in Goderich this summer. The cost to send a child to the camp totals about $571, Rowcliffe said, noting that the church covers all but $100 of that amount. The parish, though, cov- ers the entirety of the camp fee for children who par- ents cannot afford to fork over $100, she said. "We don't keep anybody away from going to camp," Rowcliffe added. St. Thomas' lengthy his- tory in eastern Huron County means the church even predates Seaforth's transformation from an unassuming, windswept outpost to a thriving, rail- way -fuelled boomtown. In fact, early Anglican leadership in the area origi- nally set its sights on con- structing a church in nearby Harpurhey, even raising funds to purchase a plot a land in what was then a flourishing commu- nity, according to former Rev. James R. Broadfoot's extensively researched pamphlet tracing the his- tory of St. Thomas. In 1854, an immigrant English schoolmaster named William Creswell was awarded a license from the church's Canadian hier- archy to be the first priest of the area's Anglican congregation. Plans to extend the Buf- falo, Brantford and Goder- ich Railway, however, would effectively spell the end of Harpurhey. The railway company bypassed the thriving com- munity in favour of then burgeoning village of Sea - forth, which would soon outstrip Harpurhey in pop- ulation and prominence. Following the lead of many merchants and resi- dents, the congregation shifted its attention to Sea - forth, with leadership in 1862 making constructing a permanent church in the community a top priority. Prior to having a perma- nent facility, sermons would often be conducted at the homes of welcoming church members and even occasionally at the Queens Hotel, Rowcliffe said. With money still scarce, a prominent landowner named Edgar Jarvis gener- ously donated the land that would later host St. Thomas, with the street it rests on later named in his honour. In a newspaper article from March 1877 cited in Broadfoot's trim historical sketch the church is described as boasting "a strange mixture of Gothic and Greek Architecture." Over the years, the build- ing has expanded in size, with new entrances added, colourful stained glass win- dows installed and its pew layout completely reworked. It also survived a close brush with destruction, when lightning struck its bell tower in 1928, sparking a fire that ravaged a section of the church. The rest of St. Thomas, however, was spared. And since then, it has ably weathered the ele- ments and shifting religious climate to remain firmly anchored as the heartbeat of the Anglican community in Seaforth. MR MOVIE INFORMATlO ld www rnovieitnkse B.a