HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1983-08-24, Page 3THE 1URON EXPOSITOR,A),IOUBT 24 1983 •,• A3
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50 feet, weight+ pounds sq has a
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mately 50 horsepower. Wing span is -
)32 feat, *ARY STAlLE
',Ir."It's very stable," Bill' says. "It takes
;'very little stick inOvenceid to get it to do what
i want it to. :
" . "l can fly in 25 mp wind's 'but 1 get no
' satisfaction tallying itf,.lgh;winds. The ideal
t'8 gg time is at s or early, evening."
Bill and Paulunt have. turned their fun for
wfying into a business, They were teaching a
, Sov'ernment 'approved ultralight ground -
school cones; In Jany] ry, 1983, six months
Hall in its heyday MANY PEOPLE participated In
Opera Hall. The above photo
operation of the hall.
Hall was town's
Visitors to Seaforth, even long-time
residents stand in awe when looking up at
Cardno's Opera Hall. The first lady of
Seaforth was opened in 1875, providing
entertainment, not only for Seaforth
residents, but all of Huron County. In a
sense. Cardno's Opera Hall was the hottest
night spot in town.
Its most striking feature is a large clock
tower, with clock faces on north, south,
east and west sides. Time has weathered
the faces. Paint has disappeared as have
numerals and minute and hour hands.
After entering the main doors to the hall,
one climbs 22 steps up a four foot wide
staircase with oak bannister to the opera
hall. Considering the building is over 100
years old and has been closed for 31 years,
the interior still maintains a semblance of
elegance. The hall has elaborate woodwork
around windows, a wooden balcony and a
curved stage.
The hall was closed in 1952. the sante
year Queen Elizabeth 11 was crowned. 'fhc
future was very dim. It was the era of
television. People - had other forms of
entertainment. The grand lady was soon
forgotten after the curtain closed for the
last act of Professor James Scott's play.
"Crossroads",
The 1920s was the era fpr,tlte jtig_ band
sound, Ed Daly. lifetime Seaforth resident,
remembers when he and his orchestra
played in Cardno's hall. "It was a swing
and jazz era. 1 played violin and banjo and
nue - n trbl howls at Cardno's
a taken In 1915, I the heyday of the
(Photo co teat' of Ken Cardno)
before Ministry of Transportation
tions were introduced.
Students are required to pass a IQ week,
25 hour<coursc and a minlmim of five hours
' ' flight trainingg '1t usually takesseven to 10
" hours of tonight time. Then 'there's
pre-flight briefing and de -briefing, 'Ai total
training' usually ends up around ,37 hours."
Training costs are approximately' $550
- combated to 53,000 for private pilot lessons.
Bill will be teaching courses at Lambton
College, Sarnia; Fanshawe College, London
and Conestoga College, Vanastra, this fall.
An ultra -light costs from $6,000 for a single
seater to 59,000 for a two -seat model. "They
come in kit form but only take about 30 hours
to assemble.
"We won't give a buyer a propeller until
we've test flown the machine to make sure
assembly was done properly. Ultralights are
as safe as any other airplane, safer because
regula- - you fly slower," says Bill. "Pilots must
respect the wind and not fly close to the
ground."
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#gal igl�#s will be more.
poplar than_ ski -dos
my two brothers played the piano and
drums. For awhile we had an orchestra
made up of two families, three Stewart
brothers and three Daly brothers. It was
called the Daly -Stewart Orchestra.
FILLED
"Radio was just coming in, so anything
that hit the town pretty well filled Cardno's
Hall, It was only one of few entertainment
spots, It always seemed fairly busy. 1 can't
remember too many stage plays, mainly
because 1 was musically inclined.
"1 can remember people sat on long
benches and chairs. The main stage curtain
included advertising. My father's adver-
tisement was one of them. He was a
jeweller.
"I can recall that local talent was
featured in minstrel shows. There also
used to be a travelling show put on by the
Guy Brothers. It was a variety program
which featured singers, dancers and
comedians. My dad used to be .what was
called an end man because he used to sit in
the end of the front row. The two end men
were dressed in crazy costumes, had black
faces and hands. They supplied the jokes
and wisecracks.
My most vivid childhood recollection is
of an act when a guy crawled to the stage in
• „„analligatar.eosturrip. It seemed Sa real that.
1 ivas ady t'o 'run out of the place."
WINDING THE CLOCK
Mr, Daly is one of a handful of people
who climbed the clock tower on a regular
ot spot
basis. Since his ather was a jeweller, Ed
was in charge o winding the clock every
Saturday.
It was a job I had every week, summer
and winter. 1 had to wind up two weights
using a big crank. One weight was for the
clock and the other for the striking
mechanism. A bell rang every half hour
and pnthe hour. It kept good time when it
was running."
Winding the clock was no easy feat. "I
had to go up the stage, on a ladder to get
into the atttc..1 then had to cross rafters
and climb two or three ladders to get inside
the tower. The crank had a five foot sweep.
It took at least five minutes to wind the
clock. The weights must have weighed 200
pounds each. They were large steel
cylinders filled with stone. I can remember
looking down the hole waiting for the
containers to come up and get the job over
with.'' '
"1 remember seeing "Crossroads","
says owner Ken Cardno, 'The hall was
always packed. It always seemed full to
me. I was six when it was closed. due to the
popularity of television. We closed it
ourselves. At the time. it may not have
been heartbreaking. 1 can remember Dad
coming home with black eyes receive
.. from breakipg -up, fightsat-dances.'..., t.
The hall held as many as 600 people at a
time. Following the war, it was a big thing
he says.
CURTAIN IS THERE
The curtain Mr. Daly refers to still hangs
above the stage. It was handpainted at the
turn of the century by Will Clarke, scenic
artist of Clipper, New York. The scene
shows a Scottish castle near a river with a
man fishing with a bamboo )Sole from a
rowboat.
The clock operated until 1965. "The
clock quit when 1 quit winding it," says
Mr. Cardno. -
The future use of the hall will depend on
funding for restoration costs.
"1 would like to see something devel-
oped where the hall could be put back to
use," says Walter Armes. a member of
Seaforth's LACAC. "It's a nice feeling
room, 11 did a hell of a' service for the town.
It was the social centre of Seaforth.
"If fixed up, it Would have a total
atmosphere of its own."
"I've seen remarkable change in uses of
old buildings," says Nick Hill, the
Goderich architect who developed the
restoration plan. "All this indicates that
very handsome spaces are being revital-
ized.
Thera will be a lot of nostalgia for many
people if the hall was reopened," says Mr.
'Daly. "There seems to be a popularity in
restoring old places If it was reopened, 1
would be quite intcrestA to going."
IT'S A LONG WAY up to the second floor of Cardnc's Opera Hall Learning that a
restoration grant was In the final stages of approval, Ken Cardno began cleaning the hall
windows He attacked the ino Irnm the Inside Out (Wassink photo)
BY RON WASSINK
There is no other way to fly than the
ultralight way. The xpefience is breath-
taking.
Friday morning, 1 rushed out to
Bill McGregor's airstrip for my first flight
in an ultralight. At first I was' a bit
apprehensive, more worried about getting
off the ground in a 300 pound,4wo seat,
airplane, than about the actual flying. It
takes a lot of nerve to strap yourself in a
bucket seat, ten inches from the ground
with a motor above your head, and nothing
around you but air.
Equipped with ear plugs, helmet and my
camera case, we were airborne in 50 feet. It
happened so fast I didn't have a chance to
think. My only recollection is the early
morning dew splashing on my face.
Once in the. air, Bill headed for Seaforth,
flying at 700 feet above the ground. Flying
at 35 mph is super,. especially if you are
wearing a short -sleeved shirt. (I left my
sweater in the car). 1 asked Bill to show me
what a student pilot learns.
Just simply flying, taking off and landing
was nothing compared to gliding and
stalling. Stalling, which is done with every
aircraft, means you idle the engine and lift
the -nose of the plane gently in an attempt
to literally stop in mid-air.
Bill had gone through all the motions to
attempt a stall. Pulling back on the stick he
said, 1 don't think I can get it to stall."
Eventually it did, the nose of the ultralight
gently dipping to a glide.
The steep turns were just sharp.1 was
more worried about my camera falling out
of my hands than anything. During the
turns, it seemed one wing was moving
forward and the other was going in the
opposite direction.
GREAT GLIDES
The greatest sensation was gliding.
Once we had reached a safe level, Bill cut
the fuel supply, throttle and finally the
motor. The early morning air was still
except for the wind rushing past my face
and whistling through cables attached to
the wings.
The engine was restarted, and we landed "
after a one hour flight,
Only 10 inches from the ground, ,the
landing is incredible. We flared out about
10 feet from the ground, and gently set
down at a slow 20 mph, While in the air, 1
couldn't resist reaching out to the side
wheel, giving it aipin. 1 dropped my front
foot and did the same with the nose wheel.
Bill, who is qualified to teach an
approved ultralight course has found that
of his 54 students since he started teaching
in January, most were engineers, doctors
and teachers. "1 think it's affordable for
the average person. It's a new spgrt and
peptple are a little apprehensive.'
' Once a student gets in the air, they're
hooked," says Bill. "1 had a female
student, who at first was quite scared: But,
once she was. flying, she said it was the
best thing she had ever done,"
Ultralfght'flying is literally flying by the
seat of your (tants. "It's just like flying an
old airplane. ' But they're starting to look
more, and more like airplanes."
OPEN AIR IS BEST
Cabins, windshields, wheel covers and
instrument panels are now available for
ultralights. But nothing beats'flying in the
open air, with nothing around you but
space. •
"I think it -will become the most popular
recreation,activity, even more popular than
snowmobiling," says Bill, 'It might take a
few years, but its coming."
Ultralights can be flown,- summer and
winter when skis take the place of wheels.
I like flying in the winter. 1 can land
anywhere, the air is denser and it takes
less power to get off the ground. Compared
to a minimum of 50 feet to get airborne in
summer, an ultralight can take off in 20
feet in the winter.
Flying an ultralight is unforgettable.
Maybe I'll try parachuting next.
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BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE
A mail -in blitz toyboth provincial and
federal governments criticizing their lack of
response to farming needs will be consid-
ered ...by Perth County Federation of
Agriculture members.
That, and the question of changing the
county federation's fiscal year will be on the
agenda of the federation's Sept. 13 regional
meetingg at Upper Thames school • in
Mitchell.
There was considerable debate among the
county federation directors at their meeting
on Aug. 9 regarding both topics.
The mail -in blitz, suggested by a
committee of the county federation, would
haves federation members hitting various
farm businesses, elevators and stockyards,
on a particular day. Farmers would be asked
to either sign various form letters or draft a
letter of their own.
"The idea is to have the letter just pertain
to the lack of response by the government to
farmers," said federation member Brenda
Ward of R.R.2 West Monkton.
The mail -in blitz stems from the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture's proposed action
plan which outlines potential steps the farm
group could' take to make government
officials aware of the situation farmers are
facing economically.
The steps proposed are to continue the
present level of research and lobbying
efforts of the OFA, have a meeting of county
federation presidents with OFA president
Resident visits
Japan in 1958
On ��@ y@aQo ago�,�
AUGUST 29, 1958
Dr. E.A. McMaster left by air from Detroit
on Tuesday for JSdpan and the Far East. He is
the second Scaforth resident to visit Japan. as
Miss Rena Fennell has been in that area since
earlier this month. Dr. McMaster who is
taking part in the Congress tour of the
American College of Chest Physicians in
Tokyo expects to be absent a month. He will
also visit other Japanese centres as well 'as
Manila. Mtss Fennell a former member of
SDHS staff flew to Tokyo from Edmonton.
She is attending the World Christian
conference there. Other points of interest she
hopes to tour are Manila, Hong Kong, and
Korea.
The Thomas Beattie home on North Main
Street has been sold to John D. Pattison of
Chatham. The residence of Keith MacLean,
Egmondville has been sold to Leonard
Clarke. Sales were completed by Joseph
McConnell
AUGUST 25, 1933
During the storm of Thursday afternoon
last a large limb fell from a tree in front of
Scott Memorial Hospital, breaking down the
hydro lines running on James Street. The
power was off for the better part of an hour.
Col. Harry McGee. a former resident of
Seaforth, who has completed fifty years of
service in the T. Eaton Co. Ltd., Toronto was
honored at a gathering of 13,000 employees
on Monday when he was presented with
illuminated addresses.
Teams commenced ploughing fairways on
the property recently purchased by the
Seaforth Golf Holding Corporation Ltd., on
I VOL/ ,
Ralphax;, , ..,•,'*• ,, 1 �a,r RI' lilt' t` io r. tai h r'.,
pantie to forttluiate plans, oFgantze- ' tetjleratioo _irectors..considered_ changes .to
meetings 'of farm leaders with tirembers at the group's constitution.
parliament at the county level, hold a Onginally the federation held its annual
demonstration in each county, hold demon- meeting in the fall, but that was changed to
stations in Ottawa and Toronto, and as a coincide with Perth Ag. Week held ' in
last resort, to hold a province -wide strike. February. At that time, the federation holds
"My objection. (to the plan) is that the its annual meeting along with sponsoring
demonstrations and strike are a little out of guest speakers.
line for OFA," staid farmer PaulVerkley of - Adntitting that people dbn't come to the
R.R.2 Atwood. • federation day during Ag. Week, directors
He said credit is a complex issue with suggestead people could be staying away
many sides. The financial picture changes because of the annual meeting.
- quickly; two years ago interest rates were at,a,,„
"Maybe what we were offering wasn't as
18 per cent or higher and now they are at 12— interesting," said Mrs. Ward, comparing
per cent. Lobbying is the route to take, he the federation's day program to pork and
said.
The sad part is there has to be more cash
put out by farmers," said federation
member Ken Green of R.R.1 St. Pauls,
speaking about farm financing in general.
"You can't borrow yourself out of debt."
Mrs. Ward gave examples of how farmers
feel they have been shafted by government
citing the federal government's decision to
turn down an offer by Saudia Arabia to pay
millions to finance agriculture for foodstuffs
beef days.
"We should try and change our image,"
added Mr. Green,
A criticism of the February date for the
federation's annual meetin4 is that by the
time committee plans are being established,
spring planting is upon the farmers.
Bill Denham, of K. R.1 St. Marys
commented that if committees are formed in
the fall, they will have four or five months
in return. The most recent allotment to the during 'the winter to work on various
Projects.
Farm Credit Corporation of 5250 million
w p
consolidation was another example.
"The government ripped off farmers,"
said Bill Osborne of R.11.3 West Monkton,
reciting the lack of payments for various
crops.
Looking at its own organization, Perth
hich has been sent entirely for debt Although the directors approved changing
the annual meeting date, the individual
service members (ISM) will have to vote on
the matter to change the federation's
constitution. Members will also have to
make a decision regarding the mail -in blitz
at the upcoming Sept. 13 meeting.
Tuesday of this week and despite the rough
nature of the work are making good headway.
In all some thirty-five acres are to be levelled.
AUGUST 28,1908
Tuckersmith Council met in Seaforth on
Saturday Aug. 22 and Mr. John R. Archibald
was re -appointed collector of taxes for 1908 at
a salary of one hundred dollars.
The Egmondville Sunday school held their
annual picnic on Friday of last week in Mr.
Modelands grove, west of the church. A large
crowd gathered and enjoyed a pleasant
afternoon.
During the holidays the public school
building has been considerably improved.
The entrance has been placed in the centre to
take the place of the entrance on either side.
This gives more room in the corridors and
otherwise improves the building. The
grounds too have been nicely fixed up.
AUGUST 24, 1883
A son and daughter of Frank Morrison,
McKillop township had a narrow escape from
a severe accident on Sunday last. They were
crossing a bridge on the 11th concession of
McKillop with a horse and covered buggy,
when the structure gave way under them and
the entire outfit was precipitated into the
water. Fortunately neither of them was
seriously injured.
There were several thunder showers on
Saturday during the day but at night it
commenced a thorough downpour, which
lasted all night, and was accompanied by
terrific but grand thunder and lightning. The
rainfall was in the neighborhood of six inches
in twenty-four 'holm:
ACCIDENT ON MAIN STREET—Thursday afternoon a westbound car, driven by Janice
Cairns, turned left down Main St. andcollided with Grant Ross, who was riding his bike
east down Goderich St. The driver was charged with falling to yield. Seaforth police say
Grant Ross was kept In the hospital overnight for observation and released.
(Hundertmerk nhn,nt
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