The Citizen, 2013-09-12, Page 34After a successful tour in
Friesland, the play De Emigrant
with Freark Smink and Theo
Smedes is travelling to Canada with
a stop in Blyth at Memorial Hall.
The shows from theatre company
Pier21 are booked on Sept. 28 in
Woodstock, Oct. 2 in Jarvis, Oct. 3
in Brampton, Oct. 4 in London, Oct.
5 in Barrie, Oct. 9 in Chatham, Oct.
10 in Whitby, Oct. 11 in Blyth and
Oct. 12 in Beamsville. The
performing dates and ticket
information can be found at
www.de-emigrant.nl.
The Frisian-spoken, English-
subtitled performance De Emigrant,
written and directed by Romke
Toering for theatre company Pier21,
tells the story of Sybolt de Haas
(Freark Smink), a Frisian emigrant
who 50 years ago hastily crossed the
ocean to Canada. He didn’t have it
easy, but succeeded with a large and
thriving farm. Eventually he retired,
and an opportunity to express the
wish of his dead wife comes up, so
he travels back to Friesland. His son
(Theo Smedes) has to look after the
farm.
Pier21 is a new Frisian theatre
company, founded by producer
David Lelieveld and actor Theo
Smedes. The name of the foundation
refers to the place where Dutch
immigrants came ashore in Canada:
Pier number 21 in Halifax. The
board of the company consists of
Hylke Speerstra, Henk Hoen and Jan
Jongsma. The idea and initiative for
De Emigrant came from David
Lelieveld. The text is written by
Romke Toering, who also directs the
play. The play contains poems of
Baukje Wytsma, put to music by
Clara Rullmann and sung by
Frederike Kleefstra.
“The phenomenon homesickness
intrigues me. A longing that can not
be tolerated and that some emigrants
literally forced to travel home.
Return to their homeland. From
dramatic point of view such stories
are interesting. They have been the
entrance for me when David
Lelieveld asked me to write a play
about emigration stories,” said writer
and director Romke Toering. Romke
Toering previously wrote the text for
Baarderlân at Tryater. He directed
and also played for years with this
company and also directed the
Iepenloftspul in Jorwert.
Tickets can be purchased locally at
The Gift Cupboard in Blyth and at
The Dutch Store in Clinton. Cost is
$15 per person in advance or $20 at
the door. The Blyth performance is
sponsored by Sparling’s Propane
and The Dutch Store.
Huron East Council has voted to
continue the practice of victory rides
for championship hockey teams
against the advice of a few heavy
hitters on the topic at their Sept. 3
meeting.
Going against the advice of the
municipality’s insurance company,
the Ontario Fire Marshal and Huron
East Fire Chief and community
emergency management co-
ordinator Marty Bedard, council has
decided to continue the rides, but
with certain conditions.
Bedard had created a draft policy
for the rides earlier this year.
However, between the first draft and
Sept. 3, Bedard also received a
response from the Fire Marshal.
“Based on this correspondence
[from the Office of the Ontario Fire
Marshal] along with the
correspondence from the insurance
company, I feel the municipality
should reconsider allowing these
rides to continue, or at least choose
option two as noted above,” Bedard
said in his report.
The issue had also been discussed
by the Huron East Administration
Committee at its Aug. 27 meeting.
In his report, Bedard offered two
options to council as a way to
continue the rides, only safer.
The second option, which Bedard
said he favoured should council
choose to go ahead with the rides,
would be that the fire truck would
escort the championship team
around town, allowing no riders
upon the truck.
“Participants can ride in their own
vehicles or find some kind of
suitable vehicle which holds many
passengers,” Bedard’s report went
on to say.
Council then adopted Bedard’s
policy entitled “Use of Fire
Apparatus for ‘Victory Rides’” but
specified that a municipal fire truck
will only be used when a team wins
a “significant” championship, which
council defined as being a provincial
championship.
The policy includes an application
form that asks several questions
pertaining to the ride, such as the
group, the age range, the reason, the
date, the number of riders, the time
of the ride and the name of the
individual taking responsibility for
the group.
It also includes a waiver form,
which relieves the municipality, and
its employees, of any liability
pertaining to a victory ride on one of
its fire trucks.
Continued from page 1
pulled apart at the joints.
“If there had been one more strong
wind storm, we wouldn’t be having
this discussion,” Faraghan said.
“However, it’s a good fix in my
eyes. It’s a beautiful tower worth
fixing.”
Councillor Bernie Bailey was
unhappy about the added expense of
rebuilding the tower, however, he
agreed the work needed to be done.
“I’m not saying we don’t do it. We
actually have to do it,” he said. “It
just seems funny that, with a
$300,000 project, we’re going nearly
$100,000 over. That’s just not the
way it works in my world.”
Heritage architecture expert Thor
Dingman said, however, this was the
decision council made when they
decided to not precurse the project
with a $30,000 inspection.
“Heritage work requires
commitment,” he said. “A full
investigation would require time and
money and you would have found
the same thing and needed to do the
same work.”
Bailey, however, felt council could
have better prepared for the nearly
$70,000 in extra expenses if they had
done this kind of research
beforehand.
Faraghan explained to Bailey the
rotting wood they found wasn’t
discovered until they had removed
the nearly one metric tonne bell from
the tower and removed wood
underneath it. Prior to being able to
access the bell, they had to remove
metal from the roof and expose the
top side of the joists.
“It was complete guess work,” he
said. “We need to remove plywood,
the metal roof and lift the bell off the
floor and, realistically, how could
you justify that without knowing
about the work?”
He went on to say that with
heritage projects there are
“discovery” issues that happen, or
issues that arise once you get behind
the aesthetic construction in a
building and look at the structure.
Council had set aside a $25,000
contingency fund for any found
problems, however, that wasn’t
enough to cover the issue.
Councillor Archie MacGowan said
that, when they set aside money, he
was aware it would likely be used.
“I knew we would find things,” he
said. “I remember saying clearly that
this may be the price now, but we
could find surprises later on.”
Council approved the removal of
$65,121 from property reserves to
cover the additional cost of the work,
meaning the entire project will be
paid for from existing funds and will
not affect this year’s taxes with
councillor Bailey dissenting.
Councillor Ray Hallahan, who had,
at previous meetings, voiced
concerns about the costs, was absent
from the meeting.
The increase in price brings the
estimated total of the project to
$438,621, nearly $200,000 more
than originally budgeted for.
The issue was further complicated,
however, by the fact that Dingman
was previously awarded another
contract to prepare the evaluation of
the Blyth Memorial Hall for the
14/19 campaign. While most
councillors saw no problem with this
decision, Bailey feels similar issues
could arise for the Blyth project as
Dingman is in charge and Bailey
had voted against awarding the
contract to Dingman.
PAGE 34. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013.
Frisian play coming to Memorial Hall
Council concerns with hall renovation costs
Hockey ‘victory rides’ to continue in Huron East
Longest Play coming
Entertainment Londesborough ON.............................................www.seedforwildbirds.comnaturesnest@tcc.on.ca 430 Queen Street, Blyth, Ontario226-523-9720Specialty Coffees &Espresso BarLunches, fresh pies, buttermilkbiscuits, cakes, etc.
Forthcoming
Wedding
Doug and Amy Miller
of Lucknow,
along with
Bill and Bette Richards
of Caledonia, Ontario
are pleased to announce
the forthcoming marriage of
Elliott Douglas Miller
and
Rebecca Ellen Richards
on September 21, 2013.
The wedding will take place
near Hagersville, Ontario
Continued from page 17
minister Brian Hymers of
Dungannon Trinity Pastoral Charge.
There will be lunch following
worship, so please bring sandwiches
or squares. Rev. Tom Murray will be
guest pastor at Dungannon Trinity
Pastoral Charge.
On Saturday, Sept. 21 is Longest
Playing Day as music director Ann
Clark leads music in church for 12
hours (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Mark your
calendar and come for a few
moments, an hour or the day to
experience and enjoy all that has
been prepared for you – music,
refreshments, bake/preserve sale,
children’s activities and please join
in the silent auction.
Please let Connie Shiell or John
Cartwright know if you are planning
to donate as soon as possible.
Forthcoming
Marriage
Neil and Barbara Dale
along with
Kim and Don Reid
are pleased to announce
the forthcoming marriage
of their children
Shalena Mary
to
Donald Kody
on Saturday, September 14, 2013
in Blyth.
Reception from 9 pm - 1 am
at the Blyth Arena Hall.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Get wedding advice
and tips, see a case
study and read about
local brides on the
Brides in Huron
section
of our website
www.northhuron.on.ca