The Citizen, 2010-12-02, Page 31THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2010. PAGE 31.End of Festival season to have new look
Continued from page 1
later on.
“We would rather dance with a
partner of our choice instead of
dancing with someone who is
always stepping on our toes,” Ron
Stevenson, vice president of
Brussels Minor Hockey said.
Howson echoed that sentiment,
stating that the move to amalgamate
was inevitable, and if they act now
they can choose their partner.
Ben Craig, a representative from
the OMHA, has helped the
executives from the two centres
create their proposed Bylaw Number
One, and was very happy to report
that it is a well-conceived document.
“I’ve been working on
amalgamations for eight years,” he
said. “And I have to compliment
both associations, as this bylaw is
very innovative.”
Craig went on to state that the
bylaw could be used as a template
for other communities facing this
decision.
Each association will be putting
$5,000 for the trial association,
and will be keeping any other
funds separate, as one inquisitive
parent was concerned with funds
available.
The executives explained that the
$10,000 would be the only funds
affected by the decision, and that
any other funds would be left until
after the trial period.
These funds won’t be spent on
jerseys or equipment either as the
association will be using existing
equipment unless it is in need of
replacement.
Blyth parents respond
Questions from the audience in
Blyth on Nov. 23 focused on several
aspects off the changeover,
including finances, who would play
where and the future of an
amalgamated association.
Primarily, parents seemed to be
concerned with the right of choice
and how that situation could affect
future generations.
Unless appealed, changing the
boundaries, either through a hard-
boundary system or through using a
centre point to determine who plays
where, could separate siblings.
As explained by attending
members of the OMHA, players
currently involved in hockey in
Blyth or Brussels would be
grandfathered into the association or
given the choice to leave if they are
in a Right of Choice situation (the
new boundaries would create a right
of choice situation if the new centre-
point put them closer to another
centre, like Wingham or Goderich,
or if they are outside the
boundaries).
Existing players would be able to
choose to continue playing with the
new association, but new players
would have to play in whatever
centre they are assigned to, even if
it’s a matter of siblings playing for
separate teams.
Concerns were also raised with
other centres who had undergone the
process, but the representatives from
OMHA and WOAA only had
positive stories to tell.
All the centres that have
amalgamated in Ontario have
remained so, and those that have
voted against changed their minds
three years later (the earliest point
that they could once again hold the
referendum).
Craig refered to Arran-Elderslie, a
municipality that amalgamated its
two centres recently.
“[Players from the two centres]
began to return the year after they
had amalgamated,” he said. “They
didn’t want to play for a Rep squad,
but they did want to play, and having
enough players for a Local League
team allowed them to make that
choice.”
Brussels parents respond
Brussels parents at the meeting on
Nov. 25 seemed more concerned
with the vote passing in favour of the
amalgamation.
“It’s more important for Brussels,”
VanVliet said in response to an
audience question about the timeline
“We’re going to end up as a Local
League centre and have to send our
Rep-level kids to other centres to try
out.”
The audience seemed to agree
with this, with one member stating
that they were concerned with the
Blyth vote not passing in favour.
“Our concern is Blyth voting no,”
they said. “Brussels, as far as I have
heard, is completely behind [the
amalgamation].”
Other concerns that were
discussed included increased ice
time and the fundraising it would
require, current players that should
be brought back to the amalgamated
centre that are currently playing for
other teams as a result of a right of
choice, and concerns regarding the
lack of proxy and advance voting
opportunities.
Ice time primarily was a concern
because of how much more the
audience believed the association
would need, which Howson
addressed.
“We’ll need approximately 9 more
hours per week,” Howson said.
One parent suggested that the
larger group might be able to
negotiate more effectively for ice
time in Blyth with the Township of
North Huron, but Howson stated it
would be unlikely.
“Unless another group gives up
their ice time, I don’t think we’ll find
more time, unless we take [early
weekday morning] practices.”
Some comments at the meeting
from the audience concerned fast-
tracking the process, and the benefits
that could be attained through the
amalgamation.
“Why not get rid of the trial period
if this is going ahead,” one audience
member inquired. “We already know
that the amalgamation of Huron East
caused growing pains for five or
more years, two years isn’t going to
solve these problems.”
Another parent suggested that new
jerseys should be bought to make
sure the amalgamated centre was
properly represented.
“We still need to have a vote in
2013,” VanVliet stated “This trial
period gives us an out if things don’t
work.”
Next season, things will be shaken
up a bit at the Blyth Festival, all with
the hopes of presenting new and
young artists to theatre-goers in
Huron County.
For the first time ever, Festival
Artistic Director Eric Coates has
“promoted” the Young Company to
the Festival’s main stage in
Memorial Hall for a remount of last
year’s runaway success Alligator
Tears.
It is an appropriate time for the
promotion, Coates says, as it’s the
first time the Festival has remounted
a production of a Young Company
show.
With the success of the 2010 run,
however, and the lack of seating in
the Phillips Studio, it was a logical
move for Coates after he felt the first
production of Alligator Tears didn’t
give playwright Britta Johnson all
that she was due.
“We were so impressed,” Coates
said. “We felt we hadn’t been able to
provide as much support as the play
deserved.”
In turn, Coates says Stratford’s
Johnson is “really excited” to have a
chance to remount the play and to
have winter to do some rewrites in
getting the play ready for the big
stage in 2011.
The play, which is based on true
events that took place in New
Hamburg in 1953, takes a look at a
community that’s looking for its
identity, resulting in a witty look at
the public’s need for heroes in
certain situations.
In addition, as the Festival will
have a new ending to its season with
the Young Company on the main
stage to wrap up the season, two
guest plays will grace the stage at the
Phillips Studio that Coates says,
would have otherwise never been
shown in Huron County.
The two plays were fan favourites
at the 2010 Summer Works Festival,
which is held annually in
Toronto.
The plays deal with two diverse
topics. The first is based on the true
story of a lady in waiting who is
sentenced to die by hanging after the
theft of a royal’s gloves.
Francoise Laurent, the title
character in The Hanging of
Francoise Laurent, spends time in
jail, waiting for her date with the
hangman, when she finds a loophole
she hopes to exploit so she can earn
her freedom.
She finds that the only way she
won’t die is if she is married to the
hangman. She then plots with a
fellow prisoner, who is set to be
released, asking him to marry her
and become hangman, as the
position was currently vacant.
The extreme story of survival is all
orchestrated through a chink in the
wall between Laurent and her soon-
to-be husband.
The second play is called Miss
Caledonia and it is a love letter to
playwright Melody A. Johnson’s
mother.
In the 1950s, Caledonia was a
largely agricultural community and
farmers’ daughters didn’t win beauty
pageants, but Johnson’s mother was
determined to change that, no matter
how many times she had to try.
Coates says that both of the
productions are so different from
what is usually produced at the Blyth
Festival, that this may be the only
opportunity Huron County residents
have to see theatre like this in the
area.
“I think it will be a very interesting
experience for an audience to see
styles of work that you would never
see here on a regular basis,” Coates
said.
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Entertainment Leisure&
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Parents respond to talk
of hockey amalgamation
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